Earth Witches Aren't Easy

by Long, Heather

  “Chance,” Jack said from the sofa. “If you weren’t already

  trying to track him, how did Oakes get there?”

  “You brought him with you.” I spooned sugar into the cups and stirred them slowly.

  “He followed us?” I practically heard the wheels spinning in Jack’s logical mind. He worked with facts, figures, statistics and technique.

  “No,” I said slowly, returning his mug to him and sitting down once more, one leg folded underneath me. “He was with you.”

  “I know all the people who were with us, and except for that fruitcake Masters…” Jack stopped suddenly. I took a sip of my coffee and watched him. He could put the pieces together. I just let him have the time to do it. And then it hit him. “Chance, that’s impossible.”

  “You keep saying that, Jack. But haven’t you figured out there is so much more in this world that is possible, even if it isn’t probable?” I felt sorry for him. Forgiving each other for our trespasses was a cakewalk compared to what I asked of him now.

  “Chance, she’s a woman. We know Oakes is a man.”

  “I agree.”

  Silence hung between us. I saw his eyes searching my face. I know he wanted me to smile and brush it off. Or maybe he just wanted me to not ask him to believe something so beyond the realm of his experience. Hell, it was pretty far from my realm of experience.

  I’m afraid I couldn’t reveal any of that, though. I asked him to believe in this far-fetched notion that he already half-put together in his mind.

  “That’s impossible.” His tone was quiet, insistent. I’m not sure which of us he tried to convince.

  “There’s that word again.” I tried to keep my voice light.

  He put his hand to his temple and rubbed at it thoughtfully. “Tell me again. Why did Callanport want your help?”

  “He saw it in a vision. He believes catching Oakes is possible, but it can’t be done without me.”

  “Why hasn’t he turned over any of this information to Billy?”

  “Because in three weeks the Senate Sub-Committee on Paranormal and Psychic Abilities will review its findings on Project Aegis. It will either recommend terminating the program or increasing the funding. If they increase funding, justifying its existence, it will not only protect paranormals but also increase our exposure.”

  “If it comes out that Oakes…” He couldn’t say it. I took a sip of the coffee. He needed to do this part himself. He needed to work through it. He needed to say it. “If Oakes and Colleen Masters are the same person, and she’s the head of Project Aegis, it’ll shoot that credibility to hell.”

  “Yes. Simply put, the years of earning respect and gaining acknowledgement will be gone and everyone will be plunged back into fear. Fear of the unknown. Fear of what people like me are capable of.”

  “This is incredible.” At least he wasn’t saying impossible anymore. “I just don’t understand how she and Oakes can be the same person.”

  “Maybe they aren’t. Maybe they are two people who share the same body, and whichever one is in control, that’s the form we see.”

  “You’re talking about a physical manifestation of a multiple personality disorder.”

  “Is it so far-fetched? There’s documented evidence that multiple personalities talk in different tones and pitches, that even their CAT scans show dissimilar brain activity qualities depending on which personality is in control.”

  Jack rose abruptly. He paced back and forth through the small wooden cabin, his expression fierce and intense. “I can’t sit on this, Chance.”

  “I don’t expect you to. I should have told you when I first figured it out, but I didn’t think you’d believe me.”

  “I’m not sure I believe it now, and I don’t mean I don’t believe you. I’m just not sure how it’s even possible.”

  I grinned. “At least you’re not saying impossible every five minutes.”

  “True.” He spared a grin for me. I watched him pause in his pacing. He stared at me for a long time, still smiling.

  “What?” Did I have something stuck to my teeth?

  “Oh.” He shook his head. “I was just thinking how beautiful you are and how many other ways we could have ended up here at the cabin.”

  I lifted both my brows. “Jack, you’re a tease.” At least if he teased, that meant he reconciled himself to the rest of the day.

  “Who says I’m teasing?”

  I rolled my eyes as he leered at me playfully. “Please. We’ve been down this road. We picked up the t-shirt, remember?”

  “Yeah.” He smiled. “Of course, I do. But there aren’t many people in my life I can say have always been there.”

  “If you compare me to a comfortable old shoe, I’ll hurt you.” The laughter felt good. His richer baritone sounded lovely when he chuckled. In all of this horror, he found some way to share humor. I couldn’t have loved him more if I’d tried. He dropped back onto the sofa next to me, and I didn’t mind it when he scooped me up closer. Sometimes a person just needs human contact.

  “I would never compare you to a comfortable old shoe.”

  “Good.” I snuggled and let my head rest on his shoulder. “This whole situation is such a great big mess, Jack.”

  “Don’t worry about it right now. Tomorrow morning, I’ll call the Bureau. We’ll bring Masters in for questioning, and whatever else we need to do to prove this.”

  “I don’t think that will work.” His masculine scent embraced me. It smelled of comfort, desire and safety. His skin carried hints of rain and earth spiced by an undercurrent of lime. I wondered if he used aftershave or if that was just all him –odd, innocuous thoughts teasing my imagination. It felt very good to just be held.

  “Why not?” He canted his head to look down at me.

  The sound of a car outside jerked Jack’s head upright. I pushed away from him so he could stand. He reached for his gun while I reached for the Earth outside. I was so tired and I’d hoped we’d have longer to rest than this.

  “Because she’s already here.”

  Twenty Seven

  Jack scanned the covered windows and locked door. I set my coffee cup to the side and moved away from the sofa. He checked the clip of his Glock. “Why didn’t you tell me she could follow us here?”

  The reconciliation with Jack eased my tension and I couldn’t resist teasing him. What can I say? I’m really just getting over the whole my life is being threatened idea. I saw a familiar thirty-eight poking out of the bag Jack held open. I retrieved the comfortable piece and methodically reloaded it. “She didn’t follow us. She followed you. She’s a telepath, remember?” I cocked a brow at him. He rewarded me with a glare.

  “What?” I smiled innocently.

  “Is she enough of a telepath to know what we’re doing right now?”

  A bullet shattered the glass and went high, slamming into the wooden walls sending bits of wood flying. We both ducked and I shrugged. “I guess that answers your question.”

  Jack jerked his head toward the back door. “C’mon. Root cellar. We can slip out that way.” We kept low to the floor as three more bullets found their way into the walls, the lamps and one of the cups of coffee sending an explosion of dark liquid all over the rug. I winced in sympathy as one of the bullets shattered the framed photograph of us at graduation that hung on the wall.

  Jack pulled up the rug to reveal a small trap door. I stared at it bemusedly. “Don’t they only have these in the movies?”

  “Sometimes.” Jack grunted as he hauled on the handle. “But those usually open right up. I think this one is stuck.” He swore and the wood groaned as it released the small door. The space below was cramped and dark. It smelled of musty dark soil, dust, a hint of loam. Cobwebs swung between bits of wood while bugs skittered out of site as we intruded on their domain. Earth.

  “Down you go,” he ordered, and we both ducked as another round of gunfire splintered wood. He didn’t have to tell me twice. I slid down into the hole and r
aised the gun to point around the darkened cellar. The Earth here was packed tightly to frame the walls. I saw wooden struts in the weak light coming through from above, but the major component was just dirt.

  My kind of place.

  Jack appeared next to me and the light source cut off as he pulled the door shut. The cellar plunged into darkness. The closed door muffled the noise from above. Jack’s free hand found mine, and our fingers intertwined as we groped our way along. “The root cellar extends out a few hundred feet. It opens into the woods.”

  “I don’t suppose I should ask why your grandfather’s root cellar isn’t normal, should I?”

  “He liked to dance in the woods naked.” Jack’s grin echoed in his words. “Grandmother disapproved of course, but because he always came and went by the cellar, she didn’t complain too loudly.”

  I started to giggle. I pressed my lips down hard against my teeth to stifle the sound. Jack led the way through the simple cellar toward a far wall. I heard him fumbling with something. Then his muted shhh told me he went to open the door.

  Jack edged forward, his fingers releasing their grip on mine. “Wait,” I whispered. I’d been avoiding this since we arrived, but it was time. The attention of the Earth is as timeless as time itself. The world exploded into extraordinary focus as I meshed with the Earth.

  “She’s around front.” I spoke softly. “She is still herself. When you move, move quickly. She will track you. Not me.”

  “Keep your head down,” Jack ordered. I felt his motion carry him out of the Earth. I waited a span of a few heartbeats before following. To define what it was I saw as my eyes traveled in double vision was nearly impossible. And it made me sick, honestly.

  My eyes closed in self-defense. The darkness harbored no ill feelings toward me. Jack moved along the perimeter. I imagine he

  moved in complete silence, but my senses could find him.

  I followed, but at a distance. I hated using him as bait, but realistically she wasn’t trying to kill Jack. Not yet. I used the trees and underbrush to shield myself. I might have psychic camouflage, but I’m pretty certain Masters would shoot me given the opportunity. I knew too much.

  Yet at the same time, I knew very little.

  The last few weeks condensed into these moments of existence. The next few minutes might decide the course of the future or they might very well end it. I couldn’t say I would have regrets in either case. I simply wanted the nightmare to end.

  Masters moved from her position. I could tell her course would intersect with Jack’s at any moment. The sprawling growth in her path drew my attention. I focused on it, biting my lip for concentration. I needed to remember where my physical self was. Grow, I encouraged the plants, grow. To attack a hedge witch in the woods begged for a smack down. My smugness faded when the gun sounded.

  Jack! I ran toward the sound and the images filtering through the Earth’s senses.

  Jack leaned against a tree, his shoulder sticky with blood. My eyes opened, and I tried to determine the extent of the wound. “Chance,” he whispered. “Go.” His Glock lay a few feet away, and without seeing the look on Jack’s face, I knew Masters stood behind me.

  “Shhh.” I pressed my fingers to his lips. “It’s okay. I understand, now.” Strangely enough, it was the truth. I did understand. After all these years, with the distance I’d gained from the attack and then the reawakened fear from this intrusion in my life, I understood what I needed to do. I always ran away. I needed to fight this time, not run.

  Pulling off my sweatshirt, I pressed it against his shoulder. I didn’t care that it left me in a sports bra and oversized sweatpants. They were warm enough. I took his hand and pressed it against the injury. “Keep the pressure on it.” He nodded at me, but I was already standing and turning. I kept my body directly in front of Jack. I would not give her a clear shot. She was not taking Jack from me, dammit.

  “So, Ms. Monroe.” Colleen Masters smiled as I finally met her eyes. “We meet again.”

  “Joy.” I painted on a polite smile. “To what do I owe this dubious pleasure? Boredom?”

  “Hardly. I’ve waited a very long time for this.” Her gun arm straightened, and I saw her finger hovering on the trigger.

  “I think there’s something you should know.” I kept my tone bland, non-committal.

  “What’s that?”

  “You’re really a bitch.” I smiled for real this time and then sank into the Earth, letting it swallow me whole. I knew she wasn’t expecting it, and the Earth behind me had already shifted, removing Jack from her line of sight. I slithered through the Earth itself, rising out a few dozen meters away.

  Colleen still moved around the area where we’d been. She literally shook with fury as she emptied a clip into the dirt where we’d been. I winced, but luckily exploding bullets in dirt doesn’t hurt it so much as feel like an annoying fly that needs swatting.

  I checked my thirty-eight again. Despite my bravado and my license, I’d never shot another person before. I really didn’t know if I could now. I spat dirt out of my mouth and crept along the path. The double vision swam in front of my gaze. Masters moved around, her agitation giving way to screams of unrepentant fury.

  I made it to an oak about five yards away when it happened. I don’t know that I can describe the change that overtook the woman. It was hideous and beautiful all at once. Her screams grew more frantic and desperate. I saw that she actually appeared to be struggling against this transformation. Her skin rippled, bubbling at the shoulders as bones snapped and reformed. Her jaw stretched and shaped itself into a feature far more square than round. The air buzzed with unnatural electricity as her, no his hands clawed at the air.

  Tears stung my eyes as her skin bubbled and stretched. The sensation must be pure agony. At one point in my life, I rebelled against this destiny and connection with the Earth. I fought against it and, scowling, informed my grandmother it wasn’t fair. I’ve grown up a lot since then. My life may not be fair, but Masters’ life must be hell. Seconds became minutes, and I stayed absolutely still. The gun in my hand should have taken aim and put the creature out of its misery. But I couldn’t do it.

  I waited. I waited to see what I knew would become reality.

  Colleen Masters’ body finally ceased the struggle. The man she’d become turned and scanned the dark woods with wild eyes. His fierce expression lacked humanity, and I saw Randall Oakes for the second time that day.

  Impossible? I only wish it were so.

  “Chance,” he called out softly. “You can hear me, can’t you Chance?”

  I let my awareness of him extend around the clearing. I sank into the rocks, the roots, the fiber and being that made up the land. I felt his breath as it exhaled from his body. I could tell exactly how much pressure he exerted with each half step he took.

  “I know you can hear me. It’s just you and me now, Sweetheart. No more games. No more lies. You know my dirty little secret. Well, you know that I am a dirty little secret.”

  The human heart beats seventy-two beats per minute. Mine must have been at one hundred and twenty-five. Calm down. Calm down. The embrace of the Earth tightened as I nestled within it.

  “Colleen hates you, you know? She hates any of you who turn her down. She wants to control all of you. You have to belong to her or you have to die.” Oakes laughed. “She didn’t realize she wanted you dead until I killed the first one of you. But she and I, we’re two of a kind. I knew what she wanted, and I took care of it for her. That’s what big brothers are for, right?”

  Inhale. One. Two. Three. Four. Exhale. One. Two. Three. Four. Relax. He paced the clearing, his voice an odd combination of savagery and sophistication.

  “It’s her job, you know, to protect this country. She can’t afford for any of you to be recruited by other governments, terrorists, or insurrectionists. It had to be her way. I’m the only one who understood. I’ve always understood. She couldn’t do it, not with your forensics and your DNA. But I
could. And I did! I did it. I killed every one of them. Except for you.” His voice was singsong. “I missed out on your death, Chance. I shouldn’t have. You should have died. But you didn’t. You wonder why that is?”

  My scars hurt at the memory, and I pressed a hand against my stomach. I remembered the injuries all too clearly. I should have died, but fate apparently didn’t think so.

  “Where are you?!” he bellowed. “You can come to me or I’m going to go find Jack. Oh, yes, I know all about Jack. I know about his psych profile, his dead wife and his affection for you. It nearly got him yanked off your case, you know. Colleen played that one cleverly. She told the director Jack’s emotions were coloring his work. Still, you can’t hide him from me forever. I know you moved him. That’s an impressive skill. Colleen was really pissed you never told her you could do that.”

  His pacing ceased. He was very still in the clearing. He knew I was close by. He knew I was listening. He had to know.

  “I know you’re out there,” he whispered. “Come out, come out, wherever you are!”

  I forced the pressure up beneath his feet, exploding the earth out from under him, catapulting him into the air. The gun he gripped went flying, and he landed on his shoulder. I stood away from the tree and walked into the clearing.

  I looked into his eyes, and I aimed the gun at him, point blank. We stared at each other. I waited to see the fear. I waited to see anything to justify what I knew I had to do.

  When he lunged, I pulled the trigger.

  A thirty-eight carries six shots. I put one between his eyes. The other five formed a circle in his chest. The shock of death ripped through the area around me and I felt it reverberate as the Earth recorded the event. The recoil flung me from the connection. I made it four feet from the body before I threw up.