Strange Magic (The Witches of Cleopatra Hill Book 9)

by Christine Pope

Would they hear the garage door opening? With the television on, maybe not. She could always hear it whenever someone entered or exited the garage, but that was because her bedroom was right on top of it. Her parents’ bedroom was toward the back of the house.

  She’d have to risk it.

  After setting her purse down on the passenger seat, she pushed the button for the ignition and simultaneously activated the garage remote with her free hand. As soon as the door rose enough for the little Fiat to clear it, she backed out onto the driveway, sliding under the half-open garage door. Then she was away from the house, which remained quiet and dark, except for the lights that flanked the front door, which her parents almost always left on.

  Even through her jeans, she could feel the heat of the stone, acting as a sink for whatever negative energy might be surrounding her. At the same time, she sensed that she needed to head east. There wasn’t much out there, except the Indian casino just south of Fort McDowell, but she wasn’t going to question the impulse that was guiding her away from the safety of the suburbs.

  She needed to stop this thing before anything truly bad happened. The image of the girl she and Evan had found outside the apartment complex in Superstition Springs swam up behind her eyes, and Zoe wondered what would have happened if they hadn’t appeared then, if no one had been around to stop the creature from doing whatever it had planned to do.

  What did it want? After that first encounter, Zoe would have said that it seemed to be pursuing other girls who looked like her, but the spot where they’d tracked it down at the golf club had been deserted — thank God. At least no one had been around to witness that particular confrontation.

  The problem was, Zoe knew she didn’t have enough information to draw any conclusions. She needed more than two encounters with the creature to begin to see any kind of a pattern. On the other hand, she certainly didn’t plan to sit back and just observe while the creature went from place to place in Phoenix, at the very least drawing unwanted attention, and at the worst….

  Well, she really didn’t want to think what its worst might be.

  She dropped down to Highway 87 and kept driving. The lights of Fountain Hills dwindled behind her, and she repressed a shiver, right before she reached out and switched the A/C in the car over to vent only.

  It was so dark out here. No, she wasn’t the only person on the highway, because people appeared to still be coming and going toward the turnoff for the casino. Once she passed that exit, however, the night seemed black as pitch, the only illumination the reflective signs on the side of the road, and the gleaming paint that marked the lanes of the highway. The moon was up, but now it was almost overhead, and the glare from her headlamps seemed to erase any light it might have cast.

  This was crazy, wasn’t it? She glanced down at her cell phone where she’d propped it up against the console so she could plug it into the charger, and saw that she only had one bar of 4G left. Pretty soon that would be gone, and she’d be out here in the middle of nowhere with no cell reception, no weapons, no nothing.

  Except yourself, she told herself fiercely. You’re the next prima of the de la Paz clan, and you’ve beaten this thing twice already. You don’t need anyone’s help.

  Although she really would have liked to have Evan there….

  She bit her lip and kept driving. Good thing she’d filled up the car just that morning, since God only knew how far she’d have to go until the tourmaline or her witchy sense or whatever it was told her to stop. She knew if she stayed on the 87, eventually she’d come up on the mountain town of Payson from underneath. McAllister territory, so she’d be safe enough there. But how many miles was that? At least sixty, she thought, but she didn’t know for sure. She’d never driven up that way. Sixty miles didn’t sound that far until you realized it was sixty miles of desert wilderness, along twisty mountain roads.

  No, she had to be going someplace closer than that. At least she hoped she was.

  Up ahead, Zoe saw a sign that said “Mesquite Staging Area.” She didn’t know what that even meant. However, the twinge told her the staging area was where she needed to go, so she pulled off the highway onto an access road that was paved for only short distance before it turned to rutted dirt.

  Shit. She slowed down to a crawl and turned on her high-beams, illuminating the cloud of dust blowing all around her. Too bad her witch sense hadn’t told her to steal the keys to her parents’ Audi, which at least had all-wheel drive, even though it wasn’t a true off-road vehicle, not like her Uncle Jack’s Wrangler. She bumped along on the washboard road, teeth gritted and hands clenched on the steering wheel. Then she came to an open area, one crisscrossed with all types of tread marks.

  This must be a place where people could come to offload their ATVs before they headed up into the hills into really rough terrain. Why the creature had come out here, she had no idea, but better here than back somewhere in Phoenix. Out in the middle of nowhere like this, she sure as hell wouldn’t have to worry about there being any witnesses.

  She left the headlights on and unbuckled her seatbelt. No, she didn’t have any weapons, but she had a big Maglite flashlight in the trunk, something Jack had given her a while back.

  “Don’t leave home without it,” he’d told her with a wink. At the time she’d only been somewhat mystified — her usual haunts were shopping malls and restaurants and hair or nail salons, not places out in the wilderness where she’d even need a flashlight — but at the moment she could only be glad of his prescience.

  Moving carefully, eyes darting all around her as she went, she headed toward the rear of the Fiat and opened the trunk. There was the flashlight, along with the emergency kit she always carried, with basic first aid supplies, road flares, that sort of thing. Hidden underneath it all was the spare tire and the tire iron. For a moment Zoe contemplated getting out the tire iron, since it would make a heck of a club, but then she decided the Maglite would work nearly as well. Besides, she wasn’t sure whether she’d be able to manage both the flashlight and the tire iron at the same time.

  She got out the Maglite and turned it on, letting the bright beam move around the area where she’d parked. As she’d thought, this was clearly a spot where people would trailer their ATVs or dirt bikes. Several trails, narrower than the access road she’d driven in on, cut through swaths of mesquite and manzanita before they headed off into the hills somewhere. But the combination of moonlight and the much brighter illumination from the Maglite didn’t show her anything else. Yes, she supposed the creature could be hiding behind one of those clumps of manzanita or mesquite, but the stone in her pocket, while warm, hadn’t heated up to the point where she thought the monster she’d summoned could be anywhere close.

  Instead of reassuring her, though, the utter emptiness of the place only served to set her nerves on edge that much more. While she wasn’t exactly looking forward to a confrontation, she also didn’t want to think her powers had failed her so utterly that she couldn’t even tell when the creature was around, especially since the tourmaline was supposed to be helping her.

  Great.

  Zoe stopped in the middle of a largish circular area, probably a favorite spot for turning around big trucks with trailers, judging by all the overlapping tread marks in the sandy dirt. The wind began to pick up and she shivered, wishing she’d thought to bring a jacket with her. Phoenix’s hot, dry days tended to make you forget that it could get damn cold out in the open desert once the sun went down.

  Another flick of the flashlight around the clearing revealed absolutely nothing. And yet….

  She could feel the tourmaline heating up in her jeans pocket, despite the thick fabric that prevented the stone from touching her bare skin. After transferring the Maglite to her left hand, she reached into her pocket and retrieved the tourmaline, then winced slightly at its heat against her bare palm.

  Was it glowing?

  No, that wasn’t possible. She knew about black tourmaline’s psychic properties, but nothin
g she’d ever read had told her it could start to shine from within, a deep, dark red appearing at its very heart.

  That alteration startled her so much she almost wanted to drop the stone, but she knew better than that. If it was glowing this intensely, then that meant something bad was coming, even if she couldn’t see it yet.

  Everything in her was screaming at her to shove the tourmaline back in her pocket and make a run for the car. She even took a step in that direction before she stopped herself. What was the point in coming all the way out here if she’d only intended to drop everything and flee at the first sign of danger?

  Instead, she swallowed and stood her ground, then moved the Maglite in careful arcs calculated to show as much of the open area as possible. If the creature really was about to descend on her, she wanted to get as clear a look at it as possible when it approached.

  But still she saw nothing, even though the tourmaline now felt as if it was about to burn a hole right through her jeans. The wind died away suddenly, the leaves on the manzanitas and the mesquite trees going dead calm.

  Was that a good sign, or —

  Something grabbed her wrist in a grip like iron. Startled, every nerve ending coming alive with a massive jolt of adrenaline, Zoe dropped the Maglite. It hit the ground and rolled away a couple of feet…but not far enough away to keep it from showing exactly what had accosted her.

  It towered over her, somehow even bigger than it had appeared when she’d confronted it at the golf course. Or maybe that was just her fear talking. She didn’t know for sure, only saw that it had to be well over a foot taller than she was. The fingers wrapped around her wrist burned hot against her skin, hotter than the tourmaline in her pocket, which now felt like a live coal had somehow lodged itself in there.

  And its face — it had inched a little closer to something resembling normal human features, and yet was still distorted enough that it wasn’t anything like the telenovela star she had hoped to conjure into being. Its eyes were pale yellow and glazed with fury as it pulled her closer.

  Her body broke out in a cold sweat, her heart hammering in her chest, but Zoe knew she couldn’t let herself fall apart now. Gritting her teeth, she made herself recall the words of the spell she’d dutifully repeated over and over just a few hours ago.

  “To any spirits who threaten me in this place,

  Fight water with water and fire with fire

  Banish their souls into nothingness

  Remove their powers to the last trace

  Let these evil beings flee

  Through time and space.”

  The creature let out a howl, as if the words of the spell had hurt it somehow, but it did not let go of her. If anything, its grip increased, grinding the fragile bones of her wrist together. Zoe couldn’t help crying out in pain, even as she tried to ignore the throbbing in her limb. She had to stay focused, but….

  Why hadn’t the spell worked? Uncle Jack had said it should work. Had she said it wrong?

  Frantic, she began to babble her way through the words again, but just as she got to the word “banish,” the monster pulled her closer, then brought its distorted face down closer to hers.

  Oh, God. It wasn’t…no, that wasn’t possible. This couldn’t be happening.

  The thing was trying to kiss her.

  Zoe screamed.

  9

  He’d headed out on Highway 87, but when he came to a turnoff for something called Bush Highway, Evan took a hard right, following the road as it climbed up into the hills. The way was winding and narrow, and he had to turn on the high-beams. So far he hadn’t seen another soul here, which made sense. Who else but a crazy man would be out driving around on this forgotten highway in the middle of the night?

  Okay, not exactly the middle of the night, just a little past ten-thirty. But still.

  To his surprise, he saw a sign pointing to a marina, of all things. Was there a lake hidden up here in the hills somewhere? There had been that artificial lake at the apartment complex where they first saw the monster…and that golf course had its own ponds and waterways as well. Maybe something about the water attracted the creature.

  Evan turned down the access road leading to the marina. A minute later, he pulled into a parking lot with an illuminated sign that told him he was at Saguaro Lake Marina. Okay…now what?

  Just as he slowed almost to a stop, the tingle that had been guiding him disappeared abruptly, and the warmth of the tourmaline stone in his jeans pocket evaporated as well.

  What the hell?

  He sat there with the engine idling, looking around the empty parking lot. The moonlight was bright enough to tell him that Zoe’s little powder-blue Fiat was nowhere to be seen.

  So why was he here?

  Cold washed over him then. Shit. Shit.

  He’d been suckered. He’d trusted the power of the stone to guide him where he needed to go. But he’d never stopped to think that maybe, just maybe, the monster Zoe had brought into this world had powers of its own, including the ability to manipulate the tourmaline’s energies so it would send him in exactly the wrong direction.

  Which meant that it might be with her right now. Someplace far away from here, no doubt.

  Think, Evan, think, he told himself.

  But panic was sending spikes of adrenaline all through his body, and he didn’t seem capable of logic right then. Angrily, he reached into his pocket, pulled out the tourmaline, and flung it onto the floor next to the car’s passenger seat.

  That burst of rage didn’t make him feel any better, though. He’d come down here to Phoenix to help Zoe, keep her safe, and so far he was doing a pretty miserable job of it.

  He gripped the steering wheel and made himself focus. Clearly, Zoe wasn’t here. So he’d need to rely on his own strength, his own talent, to find her. Closing his eyes, he visualized her face, those big brown eyes in their frame of astonishing lashes, eyes that could glint with humor or turn sly at a moment’s notice. The straight, elegant shape of her nose. That mouth….

  The tingle that hit the back of his neck right then was so sharp, it felt more like someone had just stuck a pin in him. But that was good, because it was as if the part of his gift he needed the most had suddenly decided to wake up.

  And it was telling him he needed to go back the way he’d come, down to the 87, and then head north.

  His foot mashed down on the accelerator, and the Barracuda roared forward. Good thing it was late at night and the marina was deserted, or he very likely might have crashed right into anyone coming down the access road.

  Evan took the curves of Bush Highway far too fast. But he knew his car, knew what it could do. It squatted down on the hairpin bends like it had been invented for that kind of maneuver, and in a very short amount of time, he was down on Highway 87, accelerator pressed to the floor as he sent the Barracuda like a shining black bullet northward.

  Past a hundred miles an hour, and he had to hope like hell there weren’t any local cops or Arizona Highway Patrol vehicles cruising these roads at the moment. Getting a ticket would slow him down far more than going the speed limit.

  But he couldn’t make himself go any slower than that. His witch senses were telling him that he was now on the right track, and he could only pray that the monster couldn’t interfere with his inborn talents the way it had messed with that tourmaline. How it had even figured out how to do such a thing, Evan had no idea, but they were well outside charted territory now, off in the kind of zone that used to be marked “here be dragons” on old-timey maps.

  Once he had to zig into the slow lane to get around someone cruising along in the left lane, a driver in a Prius who was clearly offended by the Barracuda’s insane speed and had no intention of moving out of the way. Evan cursed under his breath but didn’t waste any more time than that, rocketing back in front of the offending vehicle and then speeding away so quickly that soon its lights had all but disappeared from the rearview mirror.

  That was the only other car h
e encountered, though.

  A sign appeared at the side of the highway — Mesquite Staging Area — and Evan stomped on the brakes, feeling the Barracuda skid slightly before it got back on track and pivoted onto the highway exit. That exit led to a short access road, one that quickly turned to dirt. He gritted his teeth as the car bumped its way over the washboard surface, but he couldn’t worry about what the road might be doing to his suspension. He had to get to Zoe.

  Thank the Goddess — there was her car, the dust covering it visible even in the moonlight. A single glance was enough to tell him that it was empty, so he stopped and turned off the Barracuda’s engine. Once its throaty roar was gone, he heard it right away.

  A woman screaming.

  He flung open the car door and ran toward the screams, thankful for the bright moonlight, since it did well enough to illuminate his way. As he came around a curve and past the stand of scrubby manzanita that blocked his view, he could see Zoe — and the creature. It had its oversized hand around her fragile wrist and was dragging her toward it, its hideous face bending down toward hers.

  Oh, hell no.

  Zoe could use her prima gift to throw balls of light at the monster, but Evan knew he didn’t have that kind of ability. And he had a feeling that she must have already tried the banishing spell to get rid of it, but clearly it was still here.

  Well, where magic failed, human strength might prevail.

  He launched himself at the creature, praying that the muscles he’d built up working on the car and hefting heavy pieces of metal at his father’s shop might stand him in good stead now. And don’t forget the element of surprise — the monster’s attention was all on Zoe, and Evan was coming up from behind it. He had to stand at least a ghost of a chance.

  Running into the creature felt more or less like running straight into a brick wall. The impact knocked the breath from his chest, but he couldn’t let that stop him. Because the monster stumbled and let go of Zoe, and she backed away immediately. Her right hand hung at a strange angle, and her full mouth was taut with pain. Clearly, though, she wasn’t about to let that deter her, because she raised her other hand and flung white fire at the creature.