Witching in the Moonlight (Harper “Foxxy” Beck Series Book 11)

by Raven Snow

  Kosher grabbed on my feet and started pulling, lifting half my body up in the process. I wiggled like I was doing the worm, trying to help him out. We were making progress, but it was nowhere fast enough for my tastes. With every second, those eyes got closer.

  Not to mention the teeth.

  My bare stomach was scraping across the old wood, and I knew I was getting splinters. Not to mention tetanus from the rusty nails.

  Finally, my whole body was on the deck, but Skipper was still in the water. I braced myself, trying to pull him up, only succeeding in lifting him a little way.

  Kosher again came to the rescue, grabbing onto Skipper’s other arm. As soon as he grabbed it, Sabrina was there, her jaws going wide not a foot from where we were crouched. I was afraid to blink for fear I’d open my eyes a split second later and be in her digestive tract.

  A powerful yank from both of us pulled Skipper onto the deck just as Sabrina’s jaw closed around the space where he’d been with an audible snap. For the barest scant of a second, all three of us stared into the eyes of the lake monster, and she stared back.

  Then, we scrambled to our feet and ran all the way back to land without looking back. When we finally stopped running, Skipper and Kosher were holding onto each other for dear life, leaving me wishing I had my camera.

  The two guys quickly detached when they realized what they’d done, stepping apart. Kosher coughed in a manly way, wanting me to change the subject. I just grinned.

  “I swear I didn’t push you into the lake,” Skipper said, looking a little worse for wear after his experience. He was pale and wet, his eyes red rimmed with large dark circles under them. He’d lost a boot and a sock in the lake and somehow had ripped his shirt.

  A gunshot boomed in our ears, the sound echoing off into the tree. Kosher hit the ground first, having the most experience with being shot at. Skipper and I were right behind him, though I had to pull the scientist down with me.

  “Of course you didn’t push them into the water,” a familiar voice growled. “You don’t have the stones for it.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Sawyer walked out from the shadows of the trees, the moonlight hitting him and his shiny rifle. I’d never seen a gun so long, and it looked ancient. But, as it had just proven, the thing was perfectly capable of firing.

  After I got my attention off the gun, the ramifications of what Sawyer just said sunk in. From the betrayed and horrified look on Kosher’s face, he’d realized it too.

  I guess Sawyer was the type of guy to throw a “nice young lady” to his lake monster. You live and learn.

  Man, I’d be saying I told you so to Kosher for the rest of our lives. Of course, it looked like that might only be for the next few minutes. I’d enjoy it, none-the-less.

  In the harsh moonlight, Sawyer’s face was no longer kindly. His missing teeth, hair, and smile were frightening instead of charming. He looked like something right out of a horror movie.

  “Why try and kill us, Sawyer?” Kosher asked, still on the ground. None of us had dared to move. “Skipper killed Chris, not you.”

  He grinned. “Lake monster’s gotta eat, too. I love my Sabrina enough to do this for her.”

  I didn’t ask what “this” was, because I was afraid I already knew. Hopefully, I’d be dead when he used the three of us as fish food.

  The thought of fish food was like a light bulb going on in my brain. “You’re the one who threw Chris overboard. After he was dead, and Skipper was running for the hills.”

  Sawyer shrugged like he was being modest. “But Sabrina didn’t want him. Bad meat. She craves something a little…fresher.”

  Lo and behold, here was something right under Sabrina’s nose that still had plenty of fight left: us. It was around that time that I started sweating, my eyes darting around for an exit strategy. But there was nothing close enough to protect us from Sawyer’s bullets, the trees and cars out of reach.

  “After she wouldn’t eat Chris,” Sawyer continued, unaware of our panic, “I knew what she needed. I tried luring you back—with the stories and what not—but test tube boy was always around when you showed up.”

  He grinned, brandishing the gun. “There’s no one to save you now, though, and I have the upper hand.”

  Sawyer forced us to our feet, hands in the air. He nodded towards the water. “Get going.”

  “Death by gunshot wound sounds a lot better than getting eaten,” I said, trying to sound strong even though my teeth were chattering. “Why should we get in the water?”

  Without warning, he hit me with the barrel of the gun, the metal striking my cheek with a sickening thud. Fire blazed across my face, and I let out a short cry as I stumbled back onto my butt in the sand.

  Everything went blank for a moment, and I think I may have lost consciousness. When I came to, two men and a crazy person were staring down at me.

  “Sorry, am I holding everyone up?”

  “Help her up,” he said to Kosher.

  “I’d prefer to be left here,” I said, my words slurring.

  Since he was under threat of being shot, Kosher grabbed me under the armpits and hoisted me to my feet. Being upright felt strange, and I swayed a bit.

  Sawyer poked the tip of his gun into my back, forcing me forward. I waddled after Skipper and Kosher, hoping one of them had a plan to get out of this.

  When I looked up from my feet at what awaited us, I saw Sabrina lurking close to shore. Her mouth was already open, her eyes wide and unblinking. In other words, she looked ready to chow down.

  Beside me, Kosher started praying. They were soft, private words. I didn’t have anything I believed in, so I just silently hoped I’d live to never go near the lake again.

  My eyes focused in on the gun, and I tried thinking of a way out of this. Trying to take it was a classically stupid move, and I didn’t want to put any holes in myself.

  Without the element of surprise, I was left with few options. There was no solving to be done here, and sass wouldn’t help, either. I couldn’t run quickly away. At least, I couldn’t run faster than a bullet.

  That left magic. And with the exception of the lock trick, I didn’t know much. If you wanted help breaking into a place, I was your girl. Manipulating the air in the lock to make a key? No problem.

  The word manipulation stood out in my mind, and I had an idea. It wasn’t a particularly good one, because I was pretty sure it was impossible, but we were getting closer and closer to the water. The time was now.

  I usually had to reach for my power, but this time, it came to me, flowing and pulsing inside of me, ready to be used. In that moment, I felt invincible. There wasn’t anything I couldn’t do with magic on my side.

  Then, I came back to Earth.

  With my magic, I reached for the gun, feeling it and testing its strength. I focused on it like I would the air inside the lock. But this time, I did the opposite.

  I cleared my mind of all things solid, thinking only of air and the gun. How they were similar and different. Then, I made them completely similar.

  The effort made my brain scream, and I felt a wetness drip from my nose. I was shaking profusely, but I didn’t let my concentration waver from the gun.

  Miraculously, it slipped through Sawyers hands, landing on the ground with a thud, because my power snapped back as soon as it dropped. I staggered, almost going down the relief was so great.

  Sawyer gaped at the gun for a moment, wondering how he had dropped it. I didn’t explain to him that he hadn’t, that I’d made it like air for a few seconds. Instead, I dove for the gun.

  The old fisherman kicked at me, trying to get me to release the rifle. Grabbing me by the neck, he tried to pull me away, but Kosher had him before he could.

  Things happened very quickly from that moment forward. Kosher called the police, while Skipper and I sat on the ground and kept an eye on Sawyer. The detective had fished a pair of old handcuffs out of his car, so he was suitably contained.

  An
d boy was he spitting mad. If I had repeated half the words he threw at us in a church, I would’ve been excommunicated. Figures, that he’d be a sore loser.

  When I heard the sirens in the distance, I knew Wyatt was coming, and I breathed a sigh of relief. I was worn down to my bones, my stomach smarting from the scrapes. The ache in my cheek was so deep, it seemed to go to the back of my skull.

  Plus, my nose was still bleeding openly from the intense magic.

  Kosher loaned me a towel from his trunk, and it was soon crimson.

  But then, Wyatt was by my side, and everything was all right. They hauled Sawyer off first after hearing everything that happened. Skipper was taken away in handcuffs as well, but I was too out of it to feel anything about that.

  “I don’t want to go to the hospital,” I whined while Wyatt half carried me to the car. “I’ve earned a good sleep.”

  “You can sleep in the Emergency Room,” he said firmly. “It’s become like a second home to you anyway.”

  The motion of the car on the road had me drifting off, and I didn’t get to finish the argument. When my lids shut, all I saw were Sabrina’s eyes, staring out at me from that lake.

  Chapter Thirteen

  It took me a couple days to catch up on sleep and heal, but once I headed into the Funky Wheel for the Friday shift, I was feeling almost completely like myself again.

  And I wasn’t the only one who was back to normal. As soon as I walked through the door, I noticed the lack of snot pouring from Jeb’s nose. He bid me a warm welcome and headed off to preheat the oven.

  There was no sign of Stan, but that didn’t worry me. He had his own sense of time. When one person said, “show up at 7”, he heard “show up when you please”.

  A crowd of mostly regulars filled in, though I did see Oliver and Liam in the mix. They headed out to the dance floor after nodding in my direction, and I was too busy bartending to follow them. These people were a thirsty bunch.

  Much to my surprise and a little displeasure, Kosher showed up about halfway through the shift. He had his gun and badge back, and they were strapped on where everyone could see. Despite that, he didn’t look happy, walking in reluctantly and taking his time in making his way over to me.

  “They reinstated me,” he said, shoving his hands in his pockets.

  I poured a gin and tonic for a man with a peace sign necklace. “I heard.”

  “I thought I’d…just come down and let you know that.”

  “And now I know.”

  He nodded stiffly, and I almost broke out with laughter. His reason for being here was made obvious by his discomfort, and I wasn’t about to make this easy on him. Detective Kosher was going to give me a real thank you, and he was going to hate it.

  Kosher inhaled through his nostrils. “I also came to thank you…for your help and all that.” There was a pause in which he seemed to struggle with himself. “You didn’t screw things up as much as usual.”

  I grasped my chest. “That was almost touching. Are you tanked?”

  “Wasted. I needed a couple shots before I could even get out of the car.”

  I laughed and sent him on his way, getting back to serving people their booze. The night picked up and before I knew it an hour passed by. Rolling around the rink, I led the conga line, hips swaying to the beat.

  From the dance floor, I saw Stan come in and head over to the hot dog machine, watching them turn around and around. My lips twitched, and I rolled over to him.

  “You’re a little late.”

  He turned to me, and his pupils were the size of baseballs. “Sorry, man. I got caught up in this wicked documentary. It was about these kids that go to this secret magic school. It was far out.”

  I didn’t have the heart to tell him that he’d been watching a movie adaptation of a children’s book series. It broke my own heart daily that it wasn’t real.

  “I take it you…fell back into a habit,” I said, leaning against the bar.

  It was probably a good thing, too. I’d never smelled the bathroom without the weed aroma, and now that I had, I hoped I never had to again. There were some degrees of stinky that just didn’t seem humanly possible.

  “Yeah, man. And I’ve got you to thank for it.”

  “Come again?” I looked around nervously, hoping Wyatt wasn’t about to show up out of the woodwork. I could only imagine the look on his face if he thought I helped Stan off the wagon. Or back on, by Stan’s way of thinking.

  “With your whole lake monster thing. I heard about it on the news.”

  Now I was doubly confused.

  But Stan elaborated for me. “So, that lake monster was hungry, because it hadn’t been eating people, right? And that’s just like me and weed.”

  I didn’t think Stan quite understood that Sabrina would eat anybody who fell into her water, their presence threatening the lake. But I let him continue, curious where this was all going.

  “All this bad stuff happened, because that beasty was trying to be something it wasn’t. So, I figured people and lake monsters should stick to what they do best.”

  He pointed to himself. “Stan smokes weed, and lake monsters eat people. It’s what we do.”

  I clapped him on the back. “Solid agreement. Now, go clean out the bathroom.”

  For the rest of the night, I skated around, helping drunken customers call a cab and cleaning up the occasional pile of puke with a smile on my face. It was hard to be grim when you’d escaped being eaten. Even puke had a certain appeal in that light.

  And I wasn’t the only one with a new outlook on life. Liam and Oliver were two of the last to leave, skating until the rink was deserted. After I gave last call, Liam skated off into the night to start the car, leaving me with Oliver.

  I nudged him with my shoulder. “You two seem happy. Come to a decision on the living situation?”

  Shrugging, there was a glint in his eye. “Maybe I’ll keep him. I mean, is the rest of my life so long?”

  “For me, it could be a matter of minutes.”

  “That’s because you’re a trouble magnet.”

  I grinned. “Guilty. But what’s life without a little trouble?”

  *The End*

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