With midsummer approaching, it was nearly nine-thirty by the time we decided it was dark enough to try.
“Ok, you’re going to walk to the cupcake shop and back, right?” Cat asked.
“Yes. And if nothing happens, on the way back, I’m going to cut through the alleyway behind the bakery, and come back that way.”
“Good,” Cat said. “Remember, as soon as you feel anything, let me know. I’ll come out. Light and heat. That’s what Peaches used, that’s what they’re afraid of.”
“Ok,” I nodded. “Got it.”
I took a deep breath and headed out the door. “Good luck,” I heard Cat mutter, almost to herself, as I left. I resisted the urge to sprint toward Cat’s cupcakes as fast as I could. After all, this was supposed to be a trap. I was supposed to look normal, and the more time I gave the Others to realize I was out, alone, in the dark, the better. I glanced up and down the street before heading down toward the cupcake shop; it being a Thursday night in the low season, I was definitely on my own. The shops had closed for the night, and while warm light streamed out from Pickles’ Pizza, all the patrons were already inside.
This was the perfect opportunity for the Others to come and try and take my soul.
The concept was so ridiculous I would have laughed about it, if I didn’t know all too well how terrifying they were. This was like the plot to a horror movie, except it was happening for real, in my life.
At one point, a small bird flew off from some nearby bushes, and I jumped about three feet in the air and let out a squeal.
Geez, if the Others don’t get me tonight, a heart attack will, I thought to Cat.
You ok? She asked.
Yeah, it was just a bird.
Stay safe.
Thankful for Cat’s message–and glad that the spell was still working–I continued my stroll. Every little sound, every small movement that was out of place made me jump. I was like a jittery teenager who had just pounded three energy drinks.
As I approached the cupcake shop, I began to wonder if maybe this wasn’t going to work. Maybe the Others could tell that I had something planned, or maybe they were out stealing other souls or doing whatever it was they did. Maybe they weren’t around at all.
I got ready to turn around and head back to the bookstore when all of a sudden I felt a chill in the air, like the temperature had just dropped ten degrees.
Cat, they’re here! I’m in front of the cupcake shop, I thought to my cousin.
On my way! Remember: light and heat.
The foggy mist surrounded me and I focused on my breathing, and on my energy. I could feel my magical energy, like an aura around me, and as soon as I did I began to focus on feeling other magical energies around me.
I knew from my last interaction with the Others that they stayed invisible, and that I had to find their aura before I could do anything. This time, however, I wasn’t going to try and make the Other who had come reveal themselves. The last time, I managed to do it and the woman–or whatever it was, anyway–ran off.
This time, I was going to attack.
I felt the aura of one Other around thirty, maybe forty feet away from me and coming closer. My heart pounded in my chest. I could feel the dark robes around them, I could feel the chill around me, and I realized as I was getting ready to attack that the Others reminded me of Dementors, from the Harry Potter books.
I didn’t know why I’d never made that connection before. Maybe it was because this was real life, and I still considered Harry Potter to be this completely unrealistic world.
Still, as I got ready to attack, I focused on the energy in front of me. The Other was only fifteen, twenty feet away now. I focused every single ounce of my energy on imagining heat and light radiating from me, and as I let the energy go, I shouted out a spell for the very first time.
“Expecto Patronum,” I shouted. After all, as Grandma Cee had taught me, spells came from within, not from any sort of incantation. I could say whatever I wanted, as long as it helped me focus on what I wanted to achieve with my magic.
I didn’t have a wand, obviously, but as I pointed my finger toward where the energy came from, I realized a patronus was coming out! Except unlike in Harry Potter books, my patronus wasn’t a shimmering white mist. Instead, it came out in the form of a fiery… penguin?
Aw, that was so not the patronus I’d been hoping for. I spent my whole adolescence–fine, and adulthood–thinking my patronus would be a cheetah, or a tiger, or something equally cool. But instead, my patronus was a three-foot-tall penguin made of flame. And they seemed more powerful than ordinary flames, even as the patronus waddled toward the energy I could feel its heat getting stronger, and the light from the flames was so strong I couldn’t look directly at it.
Still, this was absolutely not the time to be distressed at the fact that my spirit animal was apparently a penguin. I felt the figure stop, about ten feet away from me. At the same time, a fireball appeared on the other side of the Other. I couldn’t see her, but I knew Cat had arrived!
Her fireball spun around the area where I could feel the Other and I took a few steps back to avoid being hit while making sure to keep my focus on my patronus, which continued toward the Other. I could feel the energy trying to move; whatever the Other was, it was trying to run away, but thanks to the fireball spinning around it, it couldn’t.
The energy in the area was electric. The heat was almost unbearable; sweat was pouring down my face. I knew I wouldn’t be able to handle much more of this, and a second later, there was a shriek, similar to the one I’d heard the time before, but this one was slightly different. It was more desperate. More panicked.
When the shriek dissipated the energy I had felt disappeared. Whatever had been there was gone. I released my spell and my fiery penguin patronus disappeared, and a second later Cat’s fireball did as well.
We stood in the middle of the street looking at one another. Cat’s face was covered in a sheen of sweat, and she had burnt strands of loose hair around her face; I was sure I looked exactly the same, or worse.
By some miracle, there had been no one around to see what had happened; the street was still as empty as always. We were so close to the mountain gondolas now, only steps away, that the rooms above the shops here were mainly hotel rooms, and as it was low season, most of them were empty.
About fifteen feet away from me was a pile of dark clothing. It was empty, and Cat and I stared at it, neither one of us daring to get any closer to it.
“Did we kill it?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” Cat said, her face pale. “What do we do?”
“We have to get Grandma Cee here,” I said. “Can we do it without going to Brixton Road? I’m worried more of them are going to come, but I also don’t want to leave this here alone, in case some more of them come and take it.”
“Yeah, yeah I can do it,” Cat nodded. “Let’s go into the cupcake shop, I have to open the portal for her. We’ll be able to keep an eye on whatever this is, and we’ll be protected.
“Ok,” I said as Cat quickly unlocked the store with magic; this wasn’t the time to be fumbling with keys.
“I’ll be back really soon,” Cat said as she made her way toward the back room. I took one of the chairs that was resting upside-down on a table to make it easier to clean the floor and put it down, sitting on it and watching the pile of black cloth, hoping it would still be there when Cat came back with Grandma Cee.
It took less than three minutes for the two of them to come back. “That was fast,” I mentioned.
“This is an emergency, we don’t have time for luxuries like walking,” Grandma Cee replied. “Show me where this happened.”
Cat and I led Grandma Cee–who was surprisingly spry given her age–to the spot where the black mound of fabric had been left. I couldn’t help but notice Grandma Cee’s keen eyes darting from side to side, as though she expected us to come under attack at any second.
As we got closer to the mound
, the three of us slowed down. I looked around, but everything looked and felt completely normal. Grandma Cee crouched next to the rag with a flexibility and litheness that I couldn’t help but scowl at–I bet even this octogenarian was better at yoga than I was–and carefully pointed her finger at it.
I didn’t know what spell she was doing, but nothing visible happened, and a moment later Grandma Cee popped back up with ease and looked at Cat and me.
“I believe the two of you managed to kill one of the Others. Although I’m not certain that ‘kill’ is the proper term. You have extinguished its power.”
Cat and I glanced at each other. In all honesty, I had never dreamed that we would actually kill one of them. I figured at best we would scare them into leaving us alone for a little while as Grandma Cee dealt with actually destroying them.
“Really?” I asked.
Grandma Cee looked at us. “Yes. You have done what countless stronger witches have failed to do. Come, we will go back to Brixton Road, and you will tell me everything that happened.”
Grandma Cee carefully picked up the black cloth and we went back into Cat’s Cupcakes to tell Grandma Cee our story.
Chapter 13
Five minutes later we were settled at Brixton Road. Cat and I had been ushered by an incredibly upset Sage into a living room, where six full-sized couches, each a different color and style, were scattered around the room. It was excessive, but the room was so large that it didn’t feel the least bit cramped.
I sat down on a round nest-style couch, curling myself up against the cushions. Cat took the couch next to me, sitting upright. Peaches, Sage and Grandma Cee, along with Aunt Francine’s ghost, all picked seats on the other side so they could better look at us.
“Tell us what happened,” Grandma Cee said, and I started the story, with Cat adding in her parts whenever it came to a point where she was involved. When I got to the part about my patronus, Cat burst out laughing.
“You’re joking, right? You actually used a Harry Potter reference to make your spell work? And your patronus was a penguin?”
“I don’t know what like, any of those words mean,” Peaches frowned.
“That’s because you spend way too much of your time in Brixton Road,” Cat replied. “I can’t believe you never at least saw the Harry Potter movies.”
“I saw the first two, then stopped watching them because they were too unrealistic,” Peaches said. “The magical world is nothing like that, we don’t have special schools or anything.”
“If perhaps for a few moments we can focus on the destruction of one of the group attempting to steal our souls without sidetracking into a useless conversation about pop culture, that would be fantastic,” Grandma Cee said, glaring at the three of us, and we all looked properly abashed, continuing the conversation.
When we were finished, Grandma Cee tossed the cloth onto the ground.
“This is what the Other was wearing. It has no powers, I checked. Whatever was wearing it has been destroyed, I made sure of that magically.”
There was silence in the room while everyone digested the story they’d just heard. All of us, Cat and myself included, stared at the lump of cloth in front of us. We were all too aware of what it represented.
“Well I must hand it to you,” Aunt Francine’s ghost said. “You two young witches were able to do what many older, wiser ones have not.”
Cat shook her head. “If it wasn’t for Peaches accidentally screwing up her spell and finding out that fire and light were what they’re weak against, we never would have been able to do it.”
“It was not simply that,” Grandma Cee said, looking at us both. “After all, Peaches did the spell, but it simply convinced the Other there to leave. The two of you managed to completely destroy one.” Her focus turned entirely to me. “I am quite certain, Alice, that you are the most powerful witch in Sapphire Village, and likely one of the most powerful in the world.”
There was silence when Grandma Cee uttered that. Including from me. I had no idea how to react. Everyone else in the room was staring at me.
“Me?” I finally asked in a tiny voice.
“Yes, you.”
“Wouldn’t the fact that Cat was there have been what made the difference? After all, there were two of us against one.”
“It helped, yes, but I believe even without Cat’s assistance, your spell alone could have destroyed the Other. It has been obvious from working with you that you are gifted. You have picked up the magical skills late in life at a rate that is absolutely phenomenal.”
“Maybe it’s just that starting magic as an adult is easier?” I offered, but Grandma Cee shook her head.
“It most certainly is not. The only deficiency in your abilities so far has been the ability to control a broomstick.”
I heard Cat snicker next to me. “You’re really not the athletic type, are you?”
“Oh shut up,” I scowled, and Cat stuck her tongue out at me. My focus turned back to Grandma Cee. After all, what she was saying was incredible. It wasn’t the first time she had told me I was a gifted witch. But there was a difference between being told you’re gifted and being told you’re one of the most powerful witches in the world.
“I want the two of you to come back here on Sunday,” Grandma Cee said. “If you’re going to start going after the Others and on the offensive, we need to come up with a better plan. There was only one of them this time, but now they know. They will not be caught unawares the next time. You might find yourselves battling four or five of them at a time the next time. That will not be nearly so simple.”
Cat and I looked at each other. To be honest, we had never really considered that we might actually make more of them come after us. We had always thought that defeating one of them would simply scare them away, at least for a while.
“You must continue to stay together, more than ever now,” Grandma Cee nodded. “They will try to come after you. The only places you are safe are the cupcake shop, the bookstore and the apartments above the two.”
“Why can’t you protect say, all of Sapphire Village?” I asked. “If you can put the protection spell on our building, wouldn’t it be easier to do it on the whole town?”
Grandma Cee smiled. “As with all spells, the bigger you go, the more difficult it is. Already putting a spell on an entire building is quite difficult. Even myself, with all my years of experience, I cannot put a protection spell over an entire village. It is well beyond my powers.”
I nodded in understanding. “I will also go back with the girls,” Aunt Francine’s ghost said from her couch. “If anything happens, I can get here faster than anyone. I will also warn all the other witches and wizards in Sapphire Village that the Others are back and that they may encounter them.”
My heart sunk as I realized the reality of what we’d done: if the Others wanted revenge, they might go after other witches and wizards in the area as well. That was definitely not what Cat and I had hoped for.
“We really screwed this up, didn’t we?” Cat muttered in a small voice.
“You didn’t,” Sage replied. “You were rash, and perhaps you didn’t think your plan all the way through, but you did what you thought was right.”
“Oh please,” Grandma Cee said. “Don’t coddle the children. Of course they screwed up. It’s not like we weren’t doing anything over here, we were coming up with a plan as well, and they acted rashly.” I sunk deeper into my chair as she continued. “But, I will say their results were undeniably good, and what is done is done. We can only look to the future now. Go home, get some sleep,” Grandma Cee told us. “Do not go out in the dark anymore, even together. Wait for the sun to rise.”
Cat and I nodded and slowly got up off the couches. As I stood, I realized just how completely exhausted I was. Looking over at Cat, the weariness was written on her face as well. We practically stumbled back to the portals that got us back to the cupcake shop, neither one of us speaking. When we were back in the walk-in fridge,
Cat turned to me.
“Looks like you’re sleeping here tonight,” she said, motioning to the darkness outside.
“Sounds good,” I replied. “I’m so tired I could sleep comfortably in one of these booths.”
“Well luckily for you, while my apartment isn’t a two-bedroom, I do have a comfortable living room couch to offer you.”
“Deal,” I said as we went through a door in the kitchen that led to a set of stairs. Cat’s apartment wasn’t directly above the cupcake shop. Rather, the stairs led to a hallway in the building above the shop, and we walked down it about a hundred feet before stopping in front of the door to apartment 209.
Cat unlocked the door and we went inside. It looked… surprisingly normal, with modern appliances and surprisingly few cat figurines. I was sort of expecting Cat’s apartment to look like where a crazy person lived, given her fashion sense.
Through an unspoken agreement, Cat simply handed me some blankets, showed me the couch, and wished me good night. We were both way too tired for anything else. I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.
Chapter 14
When I woke up the next morning, my alarm going off at nine, I realized I’d slept for almost eleven hours. Cat had left me a note; she had to go to work so she was downstairs. I put the blankets I’d covered up with away and decided to run a brush through my hair quickly before I made my way downstairs.
A quick look through the apartment showed there was only one bathroom, and Cat had a purple brush exactly the same color as her hair sitting on the counter. I grabbed it and looked at myself in the mirror. Luckily, there were no bags under my eyes, the long sleep had taken care of that. My red hair was sticking up all over the place, though. I must have tossed and turned all night; there was no way I could go out like this in public.
I ran Cat’s brush through my hair and immediately let out a shriek of horror: the hair that the brush had touched had just turned purple!
“Oh my God,” I thought to myself. The pastel purple clashed horribly against my naturally red hair. This must have been how Cat kept the purple color of her hair so perfect all the time: a magical brush.
The Very Killer Caterpillar Page 8