The Accidental Witch

by Jessica Penot

“He awaits his sacrifice,” they said in unison.

  “What?” I asked.

  Suddenly, Nineveh grabbed Diane. She pulled her into the center of the pentagram with surprising strength for such a tiny woman. She pierced Diane’s flesh with something that looked like a needle and Diane fell into some kind of trance. Nineveh held the knife she had used to disembowel the chicken over Diane’s heart.

  “Nooooo!” I screamed and I lunged for Nineveh.

  “Stop! Or she dies,” Nineveh commanded.

  “You aren’t going to sacrifice her!” I bellowed. “You drop that knife, bitch!”

  “She has to die,” Nineveh said. “It is the only way.”

  “Screw you,” I said. “We’ll find another way.”

  “There is no other way,” Nineveh said.

  “Fred,” I said looking at him.

  “No,” Fred said. “I won’t let you kill the girl.”

  “Try and stop me,” Nineveh said.

  Nineveh raised the knife above Diane to make a stabbing motion. Fred touched one of his tattoos and whispered something I couldn’t hear and a dazzling explosion of sparks burst from his hand and blasted into Nineveh. Nineveh fell onto the ground and into the puddle of chicken blood and entrails. She spread her legs and laughed as she touched her inner thigh. She said something as she touched the marks on her leg. Snakes appeared all around Fred. They circled him and crawled up his pants, biting him.

  Fred gasped as a small black snake bit his throat. He looked at me. “Run home,” he said as he fell forward into the mud.

  People who have suffered horrible child abuse often say that they are more comfortable with chaos than order. It is the same with people who have fought in wars or known any real, consistent terror. They get used to the bedlam and find the calm and ordinary uncomfortable and abnormal. I had spent my entire childhood being beaten and tortured for reasons I never understood. I had been more comfortable with Johnny’s tirades than Aaron’s sweetness. I looked at the bitch in the mud and felt utterly completely calm. My heart rate slowed and a cold anger spread over me. I knew this anger. It was the same anger that had led me to cheat on John. It was pure rage. I was in my comfort zone.

  I touched my arm and whispered Odin’s name. I reached out for Nineveh and a solid wall of flame exploded from my hand and into her. Nineveh was flung backwards like a ragdoll. She was pushed out of the circle and into the cabin behind her. The candle between her and the cabin fell over, igniting the circle of wax. The wax circle burst into flame and all the candles toppled. I walked through the flame and towards my mother who was still stunned by the suddenness of my motion.

  I kicked her three times in the ribs and then I reached down and grabbed her by the hair. I yanked out a handful of her hair and she screamed and then I punched her in the face. She fell backwards, sputtering blood out of her nose and mouth. I used the hem of my dress to wipe the blood off her face and then I spit on her and kicked her as hard as I could in the stomach. Nineveh doubled over in pain.

  I turned around and the five creatures had surrounded me. I touched my arm again, this time the second band of runes. I whispered Odin’s name and lightning shot out of my arm and flashed toward the five creatures. It wrapped around them like ropes, binding them, and they fell screaming to the ground. They screamed a torturous wail and writhed on the earth and then they vanished into the dust.

  The fire that had burned bright for a moment had died and darkness swallowed us. I stumbled through the dark and grabbed Diane. I pulled her to her feet and began to drag her back towards the house. I couldn’t see anything, so I stumbled and fell. My long dress got tangled in the bramble. Vines wrapped around my feet and I fell again and again. Finally, I heard noise behind me and I knew I was being followed. I wasn’t sure what was following me, but I stopped.

  I dropped Diane into a craggy area between two large rocks and covered her with leaves. I threw dirt and vines over her and tried to hide her. I stood up and knotted my dress at my waist, so I could move, and ran away from Diane as fast as I could. I fell again and cut my leg. I could feel the blood trickling down my leg as I stumbled blindly into the darkness.

  “Wait,” a familiar voice called to me. “Don’t be afraid.”

  I stopped dead in my tracks. My eyes were beginning to adjust to the darkness and I could see the shapes of the trees around me. I turned around. It was him. We had worked our magic. He had come, just as she had commanded. It was Abaddon, but he was different. He looked human. He was tall and lean, almost handsome in the most traditional way possible. His eyes were green without white, and scales covered his skin in patches. He was naked, although I couldn’t see much in the dark. His smell was the same, however.

  “I don’t want to hurt you,” he said.

  “What do you want?” I asked.

  He stepped toward me. He put out his hand and touched my cheek. “I just want you,” he whispered. “It will not be bad. I can be handsome. You will enjoy me. I can be anything you desire. You will never have to be alone again. You will never have to be afraid. I will keep you safe. No one will ever hurt you again. You will live forever and for the rest of eternity you will know you are the beloved of the greatest general in the world. Together, we will rule Hell and Earth.”

  I pushed his hand off my cheek. “First of all, you may be handsome, but you still smell like ass. Second of all, I can hardly keep my house straight, why the hell would I want to rule Hell and Earth? Thirdly, you are a dick. If you are going to try to tempt someone, you should at least take the time to learn what they want first. Now a chocolate cake—that would have been temptation.”

  I touched my arm and blasted him. Lightning and fire came out together illuminating the entire forest. Flame engulfed the demon and he screamed and melted away into a fog. The fog crept away from the flame and materialized in the distance. The demon took its true form. It became a huge, ugly toad demon and I ran as fast as I could back to the cabins.

  As I ran through the woods, all I could think was that I wish I hadn’t stopped running every day after the divorce. My breath was ragged and my heart pounded in my chest like something that was about ready to explode. I saw the cabins and knew I had to keep running, but I almost stopped because my body just couldn’t run at that speed any longer, but I pushed myself. I made my body keep moving even though every part of me screamed to stop. I ran as fast and as hard as I could. I grabbed Fred with both hands and dragged him, still running into the cabin with my altar in it.

  I drew a line of salt in a circle around the cabin and then collapsed, holding Fred’s unconscious body in my arms in the corner. I tried to still my breath, so no one could hear me. I tried to will my body into silence, but the more I tried, the more ragged and desperate my breathing was. I could hear movement outside of the cabin, but I didn’t look to see what it was. I sat quietly, waiting for my breath to calm, clutching Fred.

  I looked at Fred and gasped. He looked like death. The places where the snakes had bit him were swollen and purple. The bite wounds were black and his face was a terrible shade of blue. I checked his pulse. It was barely there. He didn’t have much time left.

  When my heart rate had returned to baseline, I grabbed the candles I needed from my altar and lit them, praying that the demon and the wicked witch outside the cabin wouldn’t notice the dim flickering lights of the candle. I lit the candles and cast my spell. The lights flickered, as always, and I waited for the little tea lights to burn down. It took what seemed like an eternity.

  As the lights burned down, the swelling around Fred’s bite wounds shrunk and his face regained its normal color. I breathed a deep sigh of relief. Slowly, Fred came back to life. Finally, as the candle flickered out, Fred’s eyes opened. He tried to speak, but I put my hand over his mouth and shook my head. Fred sat up and looked around.

  He mouthed, “Diane?” I gave him the okay signal with my hand. Fred nodded and scooted to the door. He looked out. He drew several symbols in the dirt below him and sa
id something under his breath. Suddenly, I could hear what was happening outside as clearly as if it was happening in the cabin. Nineveh was talking to Abaddon.

  “You made me promises,” Abaddon said.

  “She isn’t what she was supposed to be,” Nineveh said. “She was supposed to be like me. I can’t predict what she is going to do, but she is still worth it. I know she is. She is even stronger than I expected. She almost killed me. Odin gave her power. I can share that power with you when it is mine.”

  “She would have killed you if I hadn’t saved you,” Abaddon said.

  “I will get your sacrifice,” Nineveh said. “I promise.”

  “Terms have changed and you no longer have any power over me. I did everything you asked of me. I came here and possessed that wretched child, which is utterly beneath me. I’ve drained this town dry and now you can’t even keep your end of the deal. I wanted an oracle. You gave me nothing. So I am taking the witch.”

  “You can’t have her,” Nineveh said.

  “You can’t stop me,” Abaddon said.

  “I don’t have to,” Nineveh answered. “She’ll stop you. She’s a spellcaster and she will stop you.”

  “I am free,” Abaddon said. “You set me free. I am no longer bound by the rules of the Underworld. I have more power here.”

  “She’ll still stop you.”

  “She won’t go to you either, witch.”

  “Maybe,” she said. “I am her mother.”

  Fred looked at me. Waiting for my reaction. I sat, huddled in my corner, fighting for my life and the life of the few friends I had left in the world, and I realized that my own mother had been planning all of this for years. It all struck me as completely ironic and I laughed. From the moment the spell book had come, everything had changed, mostly for good, and my mother had made all of that happen. Part of me was grateful. True, her intentions had been all bad, but I couldn’t hate her like I should have. I would kill her. Of course I would kill her. The bitch had to go, but I couldn’t hate her because she had brought magic into my life when I needed it most. I looked at Fred and smiled. He looked terrified. I think he assumed I had lost my mind. Maybe I had.

  I stood up. “When I say run,” I said. “Find Diane, use a tracking spell, I know you know one, and find her and carry her back to the house. They won’t chase you. It’s me they want.”

  “No,” Fred said. “I won’t leave you to those vultures.”

  I smiled. “I’ve got this,” I said.

  I opened the door and stepped out of the cabin. I yelled, “Run!” and Fred took off into the woods. Nineveh and her demon looked at me. They weren’t sure what to make of me. They didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t know what to expect of myself. Abaddon reshaped himself. He made himself beautiful again. I looked at my enemies.

  “Are you all right?” Nineveh asked in false concern. “I was worried you may have been hurt. I didn’t want to kill Diane, understand? I only wanted a little of her blood.”

  The demon laughed.

  “You are a liar,” the demon said. “To enslave me, you needed to sacrifice a witch and then I would have given you the power you needed to kill your daughter and devour her flesh, taking her power as your own. You would have fed off your own child like a leech, making yourself stronger. Your mother only wanted to steal your power. Do you understand that? She’s done this for years. I’ve helped her eat countless numbers of her baby daughters, so she can live forever and be strong and beautiful.”

  “The demon lies,” Nineveh said. “Demons always lie. They try to turn people against each other. Don’t listen. Abaddon is the killer of children and eater of babies. He lies.”

  “Nineveh has had hundreds of daughters. She could people the world with her offspring, but she always kills the fathers and eats her young. You are the first child that woman has had that has grown to adulthood and she is desperate for your strength. I have done this with her before.”

  I looked back and forth at the two monsters. “I think you are both liars and I want you off my property.”

  The demon laughed and my mother withered. By some force I couldn’t see, the demon pulled me to him. He placed his hands on my shoulders and I breathed in his stench. He licked me and held me so firmly, there was no way I could move. I shuddered in disgust.

  “I will take you by force, if required,” the demon said. “You will do as you are told.”

  I leaned back in the creature’s arms and looked up into the darkness above me. I didn’t know the spell, but I didn’t need one. I’m not sure how I knew I didn’t need one, but I knew. I leaned back and called out into the darkness.

  “Come to me, Murmur,” I cried and he came.

  “Good girl,” my mother said.

  The demon dropped me. Murmur was a black cloud. He surrounded the camp and everything became as dark as death. I heard Abaddon howl and I ran. I ran through Murmur and into the starlit forest. I ran as fast and as hard as I could. I leapt over stones and debris. I scrambled and scurried like a rodent and again I wished I ran every day. When this was over, I was going to exercise more because, damn. I almost didn’t make it to the house.

  The light of the house became visible in the darkness and I sighed with relief. I could see Fred in the yard. He was doing something with a candle. As I got closer, I realized he was making a circle in wax around the house. I jumped over the wax line and fell on the stairs of the house, panting. Fred finished what he was doing and carried me into the house and locked the door behind him.

  “What did you do?” he demanded.

  “Nothing good.” I panted.

  “What did you do?” he said again.

  “I called on Murmur,” I answered breathlessly.

  “Murmur,” Fred said with a furrowed brow. “You summoned the demon that scared you into wanting to renounce witchcraft forever?”

  I nodded.

  “Have you lost your mind?”

  “No,” I said with a wicked grin. “I know exactly what I am doing.”

  “And what is that?”

  “I’m going to win.”

  “How?”

  “I’m kind of taking a leap of faith here.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “No time to discuss philosophy and religion now. Where’s Diane?”

  “She’s upstairs.”

  “Did you cast a boundary spell? Is that what you were doing? How long will it hold them off?”

  “Maybe an hour or two before she finds a spell to break through.”

  I nodded and went up the stairs. Fred followed me. Diane was awake, but she looked green. She was sitting up in one of the guest bedrooms staring out the window. She turned and looked at me when I walked in. She smiled and I sat down next to her and threw my arms around her.

  “I told you she was a bitch,” Diane said through a hoarse throat. She sounded even worse than she looked.

  “I hate to do this, sweetie,” I said. “But I need to talk to the oracle again.”

  Diane nodded and lay back in the bed. She looked like she’d been to Hell and back. She looked exhausted beyond reason. I took Diane’s hand in mine. She nodded.

  “I have come to consult the oracle,” I said. Diane went into a trance. “Is there a way to get rid of Abaddon that doesn’t involve Nineveh?”

  “Nineveh was never the one who would get rid of Abaddon. She was the one who summoned him. The Phoenix must banish Abaddon,” the oracle answered.

  “Wait,” Fred said. “Nineveh has always said she was the Phoenix.”

  “People often don’t know what they are,” the oracle answered.

  “So who is the Phoenix and where can we find them?” Fred asked.

  “The Phoenix is here. She is beside you. Phaedra was born out of fire and has been reborn through fire. Phaedra is the Phoenix.”

  Fred turned around and looked at me like I had burst into flames. It was as if he were seeing me for the first time.

  “What?” I said to him and th
en I turned to Diane. “How should I get rid of Abaddon?”

  “Your gift is fire. You are a lightning rod for the spirits. Use your gifts. Make them fight each other. They will fight for you.”

  “Thank you,” I said. “That is all.”

  Diane fell back onto the bed. She was asleep. I pulled the covers up over her. She looked peaceful. I sat down on the bed beside her. I was tired, too. I was also hungry. I got up and walked downstairs and grabbed a bag of chips. I shoved food into my mouth greedily. I opened a beer and drank. I sat at the table, alone in my kitchen, doing what I had always done. I realized in a strange way, I had enjoyed the last year since my divorce. True, I had been a bit of a train wreck, but I had been my own train wreck. I hadn’t belonged to any man. I wasn’t my father’s or John’s. I belonged to myself. I did what I wanted to do and ate what I wanted to eat. I had been free and I still was. Even the bad parts had been good. The magic had been good. It was part of who I was. It burned in my veins. I could feel it. I took another sip of beer.

  I would defeat the demon and get rid of my mother. I knew I could do these things because I had fought for and won what I wanted in life. I felt stronger than I had ever felt. I knew it would be all right. I wasn’t afraid. I finished the chips and the beer and sat down to think. Fred sat down across from me.

  “Do you know what it means?” he asked. “To be the Phoenix.”

  “You know I have no idea what that means,” I commented as I dove into my second beer.

  “Your mother has claimed she was the Phoenix her entire life,” he said. “When we lit her on fire and she exploded from the flames, she said that was her rebirth by fire and that she was the Phoenix. People forgave her a lot because of her claims. I forgave her more than I should have. We let her live, despite her obvious evil because we’ve always believed she was the Phoenix.”

  “So what?” I asked. “Am I a chosen one? Will I save the world?”

  Fred shook his head.

  “What?”

  “The Phoenix’s death will mark the end of times,” he said. “Not necessarily for the mortal world, but for us. The Phoenix will be the last spellcaster and the greatest.”