“Use the necklace to call me,” Noel said with a smile.
Starla’s hands flitted up to her chest. She felt the conch shell and the soothing waves of the seas wash over her gain. “I’d forgotten about it,” she confessed.
“I imagine that’s because of the darkness,” Noel said. “Don’t forget again, and don’t take it off.”
Starla gripped the shell in her hand as she walked back to the library parking lot to find Blossom. She’d forgotten that she even wore the shell necklace Noel had given her, but was it the reason the darkness hadn’t gotten to her mind?
Chapter Eleven
“Blossom, wait!” Starla called after her friend. “Slow down. Where are you going?”
“I’m hungry,” Blossom said over her shoulder without slowing down. “I want fries.”
“Okay,” Starla said. “We’ll get fries.”
“With cheese.”
“Yeah, sure,” Starla said. “Cheese fries are good.”
“We’re going to need the carbs for later.”
“For?” Starla asked as she finally caught up.
“For performing butt loads of magic.”
“Blossom,” Starla cautioned.
“Starla,” Blossom said and rolled her eyes.
Starla decided to drop it. Blossom hadn’t begun casting any spells yet, so she decided to wait and see what Blossom would do.
The biggest problem right then was finding some place to get fries. Most of the restaurants had closed for the day. The island was a ghost town. Starla thought that might be a blessing, though. If people were at home and in their hotel rooms, they weren’t out and about, being affected by the darkness.
They did finally find a food truck on the beach that was still open. There was a short line since it was the only place open, but they didn’t have to wait long.
Starla got bacon cheddar fries and a cherry root beer slush and Blossom chose chili cheese fries and a black current milkshake. They took their food to a picnic table under a palm tree and sat down.
“I know you’re worried,” Blossom said softly.
Starla looked up and saw that the hardness that had creeped into Blossom’s face earlier had melted away. “Just a little.”
“You’re not going to argue with me about using our magic to bring out the monster?”
“I don’t know if it’s the best idea, but it’s the only idea we have. I don’t think I can live my life waiting for the moment that thing comes after us.”
“I don’t think all four of us can completely refrain from using magic forever either. I mean, it’s a part of who we are.” Blossom seemed to be thinking aloud more than talking with Starla.
“Yeah, and we don’t know what other magicals are on and around this island,” Starla said. “Nan the librarian may not be a witch, but she’s not a regular human either.”
“The mermaids seem like they might have powers too,” Blossom said.
Starla felt the shell necklace around her neck grow warm. It wasn’t so hot that it would burn her, but instead gave her the feeling of a warm fire on a cold, wet night. It seemed to confirm what Blossom had said.
She was about to agree with Blossom when she heard a tap tap tap on the metal garbage can a few feet away from the table.
Starla turned around and a man in a hoody stood a few feet away. He reached up and pulled the hood off his head. He knocked on the trash can again and smiled a huge, menacing grin that seemed to spread too far across his face.
“What the…” Blossom stood up and started backing away.
Despite the tropical climate, the air seemed to chill. For the first time, Starla could see the man’s face. She had no way to be certain that it was the man who’d been stalking her, but she could feel it. That and the tapping were enough to convince her.
Her blood ran cold when she looked around and realized that there was no one around. Even the man running the food truck was nowhere to be seen. The rest of the patrons had gotten their orders and wandered off.
If she and Blossom being alone on the beach with the man made her afraid, then the realization of who he was just about stopped her heart in her chest.
“It’s him,” Starla gasped.
“I know it’s him,” Blossom said. “It’s the creep who’s been stalking you.”
“No,” Starla said. “That’s not what I mean.”
“Well, what do you mean?” Blossom asked. The man was just standing there, leering at them and tapping on the trash can. “Out with it; quick.”
“He’s the dead guy on the beach,” Starla whispered. “I can’t—”
With that, the creep cackled and ran off. For reasons that Starla couldn’t quite understand, she started to run after the man. Blossom reached out and grabbed her wrist. It stopped Starla in her tracks.
“What are you doing?” Blossom asked incredulously, but there was a proud smile on her face.
“I don’t know,” Starla said as if dazed. “I want to talk to him. I want to know who killed him and why he’s been stalking me.”
“I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to go running off after him. Though I do admire your spunk,” Blossom said. “This gives me an idea.”
“Oh no,” Starla moaned. “What?”
“Hey, witch. Be nice,” Blossom said with a good-natured chuckle. “I think we should summon him into a spirit trap. That way you can talk to him. We can banish him from this plane of existence, and we might even get the darkness to rise. I would think summoning a spirit and using a soul trap would be enough magic to do the trick.”
Starla, Blossom, Kane, and Damek gathered at the stones near the water. They’d brought black candles and salt, white candles and sea salt, dragon’s blood, parchment, a feather quill, and an incantation Damek composed from the memory of his grimoire.
They placed the black candles in a small circle in the center of the stones. The white candles were positioned as a larger circle just inside the stone ring.
Blossom mixed the black and white salt together while Damek wrote the victim’s name on the parchment with the dragon’s blood. It was important that once the name was placed, it was not spoken again.
“Once they turn, their names give them powers,” Damek said as he folded the paper.
“I thought that if you called them out it gave you power over them,” Starla said.
“That’s demons, and it’s a myth,” Damek corrected. “They draw power from their names.”
“Is everything ready,” Kane asked hesitantly.
He was normally a tough guy, but the magic stuff seemed to make him a bit nervous. The prospect of summoning and trapping an evil spirit had him on edge. Kane had just nodded his head and agreed in the right places when Starla and Blossom told him about the creature that would most likely appear either during the spell or after. He’d brought every firearm he owned, and since they weren’t holding back on the magic anymore, the four witches had enchanted the weapons and ammunition.
“Yes, we’re ready,” Starla said.
The four formed a circle with Presto sitting outside and as out of sight as possible. He was there to lend whatever aid he could, but Starla wanted her familiar to be able to escape if things went south. If they failed at either of their tasks, then perhaps the cat could get word back to the Elders.
The witches stood inside the white circle and held hands. They’d been instructed by Damek ahead of time not to break contact under any circumstances.
What they were doing was considered gray magic. It was black magic in the form of necromancy, but they were doing it for a good reason. Damek and the witches trusted that the white circle would protect them from the outside, but he did not trust the black circle to hold the ghost. Black magic was treacherous and could turn on the user.
He was the only one of the group who knew any necromancy, so the other three witches lent him their spirit and support while he chanted the ancient incantation.
After a few minutes, Starla began to feel strange. She wondered if
the others felt the slight sensation of exhaustion and fear soaking into their beings, but she didn’t dare ask.
The black candles began to flicker and spit out inky smoke. The smoke coalesced in the middle of the black circle, and the air filled with a scratching sound. It was as if something was trying to claw its way into the world or back out.
Moments later, the smoke cleared and the sleaze was standing there looking confused. He tried to step outside the black circle, but it held.
Starla shuddered when he somehow started making that tap tap tap sound she’d come to associate with him, but she did not falter.
When the ghost was fully materialized in the circle, or as much as a ghost could be, Damek stopped chanting. “Ask him,” he said to Starla.
“We’ve brought you here to ask you a question,” Starla began.
The ghost hissed at her and began his tapping again.
“You’ve only got one chance at redemption. I’m not sure what will happen to you once you are banished to the other side, but if you help us while you are still on this plane, it might help you over there.”
The ghost grew silent and still. Starla guessed he hadn’t realized he could be banished. She hoped that he would cooperate.
“What do you want to know?” he asked.
“I want to know who killed you,” Starla said. “And I want to know why you’ve been stalking me.”
“The man who runs the grocery store killed me,” the ghost said matter-of-factly. “I think his name is Thomas.”
Starla felt her stomach clench. She couldn’t believe that Thomas would be responsible for killing someone, but would the ghost lie?
“That’s a lie,” Starla accused. “Tell me the truth.”
“It is the truth, I’m afraid. I’ve got no reason to lie to you. It is nice to know that stick in the mud will be going to prison. As far as why I was stalking you, I don’t know. I just felt compelled to do it. Not that it wasn’t fun.”
“I know why he stalked you, sweet Starla,” a voice came from the waterline.
The witches turned to look in time to see an inky black creature turn into a man as it walked out of the water. He looked like Damek’s twin, except that his skin was gray and his eyes were black. Where Damek was a good witch, the thing that emerged from the water was the dark doppelganger.
Starla realized that setting Damek free was what set things in motion. The darkness sought to override the light Damek would bring to the world in his full magical form.
The creature took a few steps onto the beach and casually waved a hand in front of him. The black candles went out and the ghost was instantly banished to wherever souls like him went after death. By the rush of heat and sadness that escaped out during the split-second the veil was open, Starla guessed it wasn’t anywhere good.
“What do we do?” Blossom asked.
“Yeah, won’t using magic to fight this thing make it stronger?” Kane added.
“Then we take his magic and we lock it away.” Starla grasped the shell around her neck.
“That’s just crazy enough to work,” Damek said.
Damek’s eyes went wide when he looked at the shell necklace in Starla’s palm. She saw why. It was glowing pink and the air around it shimmered.
“We can help with that,” a voice came from the water.
Noel and her sisters stepped out of the ocean and surrounded the creature. The darkness incarnate raised his hands to cast, but the mermaids began to sing.
The darkness dropped his hands and appeared to go into a trance. The mermaids could enchant any man, and the creature was no exception.
Seeing her opportunity, Starla threw the black candles out of the circle and placed the shell necklace in the middle. “What do we do? It’s not a spell. How do we do this?”
“Ahem!” Presto jumped into the circle. “I enter this circle with perfect love and perfect trust yadda yadda yadda,” he said. “Stand back, mere humans. Sucking up magic is a job for a cat.”
It wasn’t readily apparent what Presto did, and Starla wasn’t sure if a human could understand. Cats were higher beings, and, of course, a familiar was the only one who could slay a creature that fed off magic.
Whatever Presto did, the creature screamed and then turned to dust. The dust swirled like a tornado, crossed the beach, and disappeared into the shell.
“What do we do with it?” Blossom asked as she looked down at the shell.
Starla picked it up and turned it over in her hand. It was no longer pink, but instead had a soft green glow.
“I’ll take that, dear.” Starla whirled around to see Nan the librarian coming toward the stone circle. “Absent a museum, it’s the library’s job to store such things,” she said with a wink.
Starla handed the necklace over to Nan. “Who are you?” she asked curiously.
“I’m Nan the librarian, dear. I’ll see you tomorrow when you come in to return the book.” Nan said with a wink and a smile.
Epilogue
“They released Thomas today,” Kane said and stuck a whole mozzarella stick in his mouth.
“Hey, those are mine,” Starla complained and poked him. “So his lawyer cleared his name?”
“Yeah, his daughter corroborated his story. That sleaze attacked her, and Thomas was only saving her from being hurt. The creep actually kind of stabbed himself when he was wrestling with Thomas.”
“Did either of them say why they didn’t just call the police?”
“They panicked and left the scene,” Kane said and plucked another mozzarella stick from the basket. “It happens. Adrenaline starts pumping and some people just panic. They ran and then panicked more. Thomas thought he would be in more trouble for leaving the scene, and he was even more afraid that his daughter would end up in jail,” Kane continued. “I think that’s what he was the most worried about. At some point, he stopped caring about himself, but he was worried that we would arrest Angela.”
“But they’re both in the clear now?” Starla asked.
“Yeah. Thomas pled guilty to a misdemeanor for leaving the scene and was sentenced to community service, but the judge counted everything he did for the island after the storm as his community service.”
“And Angela is okay?”
“I think she’s still a little bit shaken by the whole thing, but otherwise she’s okay. She left her job at the diner and is going to work in her father’s store for a while,” Kane said.
“That’s probably for the best. It will make them both feel better.”
“You know what would make me feel better?” Kane asked.
“No. What? If I hire a bodyguard and buy a massive guard dog?” Starla teased. “I’m sure Presto would love that.” She rolled her eyes.
But what Starla hadn’t noticed was that while she was being snarky, Kane had pulled a small plum color velvet box out from under the table. He opened it to reveal a two-carat, canary yellow, princess cut diamond engagement ring. Starla sat there in stunned silence.
“It would make me feel better if you would let me be your massive guard dog for the rest of our lives,” Kane said with an impish smile. “Ruff.”
“Are you asking me…” Starla trailed off.
“I’m asking you to marry me, Starla Shadowend. Do me the honor of being my wife.”
Starla still couldn’t speak, but she reached her hand out across the table for Kane and nodded her head yes. She couldn’t believe what was happening, and she definitely couldn’t believe how much she loved that sunshine yellow diamond.
Kane slipped the ring on her finger and the rest of the restaurant erupted into applause. Starla wiped a tear away from her cheek.
“She said yes!” Blossom squealed and rushed to their table. She and Damek had been hiding around the corner, waiting to see if Starla would accept. “Let me see that rock.” She grabbed Starla’s hand and eyed the ring. “Oh, baby brother, you did good.”
“Yes, I did,” Kane said with a smile, but he wasn’t looking at the ring
. He was looking at Starla. “She’s a rare gem, but as beautiful as she is, she’s nothing but trouble.”
“Well, now she’s going to be your trouble for the rest of your life,” Starla said and stuck her tongue out at Kane.
“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
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Copyright© 2018 Sara Bourgeois
All characters in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is coincidental.
Sleaze on the Beach Page 8