“You weren’t in there.” Dionne pulled a chair up across from me and dropped into it, fixing me with a scrutinizing gaze. “We saw them stacking the wood when we came out from the ritual. We didn’t see you around there. We went to them and said our friend was inside, they needed to stop for a little bit and let us get you. But they said there was no one there. They’d checked the whole place. Said all they found was an incense dish and a metronome left behind.”
“We thought you’d left already,” said Sara. “Or that you decided there wasn’t enough time and needed to start your journey outside the temple.”
“We couldn’t find you. We looked all over. Finally we went back to the temple and figured you’d find us there. We just concentrated on reaching out to you from our hearts, like Dionne said to.” Joe rested his cheek on my hand. I touched his hair with my other hand. “I’ve almost never been as scared as when I saw you come out at the top of the stairs there.”
That’s when it all started to dawn on me. “I did it? We did it?”
“It seems like it.” Dionne shook her head. “Goddamn but that was the longest wait of my life.”
“What happened in there?” Cherry also sat down by my feet.
“I’m not sure I can describe it.” Trying to remember what I’d seen in there made stabbing pain shoot through my head.
“So he’s stuck there for good now?” said Joe.
“We can hope,” said Tamar.
“The shit that would have to happen to pull him out of there...let’s just say it’s not unreasonable to expect that it’s a not-in-our-lifetime kind of thing.” Dionne held up the box. It looked much the same as it had in the spirit realm, just shabbier. “This is it, huh? If you’re good with it, I can take it. Me and Tamar’s order, we got places to hide things like this and keep them hid.”
I nodded. It was better than me carrying it around in my pack, or burying it in a random ditch somewhere.
It finally, really hit me.
He was, for all intents and purposes, gone.
I was free.
“Mari?” said Sara, slipping the cord with my key over my head. “You look pale. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” I said. I was better than fine. I was free.
My friends found me yet more clothes to borrow. They fed me, checked my vitals, kept me well-supplied with water. For a while, I was too weary to do anything but sit in camp. Everyone sat with me, and we ate and talked and laughed in the way that you only can when a crisis is finally past. Tamar and Dionne got a little drunk and regaled us with stories from their days studying the occult together. Everything that had broken between them seemed to be healing.
When I’d rested, and everyone felt confident that I wasn’t dying of smoke inhalation, I asked them all to go with me around camp. “It’s our last night,” I said, over their protests. “We haven’t been able to enjoy being here very much, and we just did something fucking amazing. I just want to play for a while. Anything except hanging out at the fires, okay?”
We made one last round, of the DJ camps, of a camp that had a giant trampoline, of Merry Prankster’s and Captain Benji’s and the swing, where I no longer had to fear looking over to see Murmur watching me. Something had lifted from my life that I hadn’t even realized still weighed on me. A spring night had never been so beautiful.
It was very late when I finally lay down to sleep, this time alone in my little tent. I felt peaceful in a way that I hadn’t in a very, very long time, maybe ever. I closed my eyes and settled in, and then I opened them once more.
Rosa Vermelha knelt over me, and her face was kind. Her hand passed over my hair. “Sleep now, my girl.” Her voice was soft. “You made me proud.” She bent down and kissed my forehead.
I was smiling as I fell asleep.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
All around me, Morph was vanishing as if it had never existed.
Dozens more tents were gone by the time I woke up. Cars dotted the edges of every dirt road, open trunks yawning in the morning air as camp after camp was condensed into bins and piles and zippered canvas sacks, loaded into vehicles of every size and shape, and whisked away in the direction of someplace that served breakfast and had real toilets.
Teo’s camp was almost packed out when I emerged from my tent, but he was still there. “Hey,” I called.
He smiled to see me. It lit his whole face, and I realized that he hadn’t smiled like that, not even close to it, since I’d met him. “Good morning, angel.” He dropped whatever he was packing and came over to me, arms extended. We hugged for a very long time.
“Thank you.” He held me off and looked into my eyes. “I mean it. I didn’t even realize it was possible, what you and your friends did. I didn’t think I could ever be free.”
“I know the feeling.” I hugged him again. “So--what about Tomas? What happens now?”
He lifted a shoulder. “What am I gonna do? If I try to get him moved, there’s an investigation. I can’t have that. But, I’m going to see if I can find a priest or something. Someone discreet who can come out next year and bless the grave. Best I can do for him. Probably should have long ago.” He rubbed my arms. “You look like you’re gonna shower. Go on. If I don’t see you, I’ll leave my info in your tent. You ever come through Brooklyn, you look me up, okay?”
I promised I would. I was indeed on my way for one more shower, because who knew when I was going to get another one. I used the private stalls this time, though. The shared ones reminded me too much of possessed boys and of choking on my own breath.
Grim reality settled in more deeply with every passing moment, starting with the realization that I had to put my clean body into dirty clothes because everything I owned had been worn. I wished I’d thought to pull a few pieces of regular clothing out of the costume camp yesterday. I still had a few of my rations left, thanks to my friends feeding me all weekend, and even though the food was warm and unappetizing, I sure as hell wasn’t going to waste it.
For all the good it was going to do me, my last ten dollars were still in my bag where I’d left it.
Once I had my pack and my tent and bedroll all assembled, I made my way over to Free Radicals. I wasn’t sure about my standing with Science Faction right now, and I was hoping I could throw myself on the mercy of one of my new friends to give me a ride either to a city where I could start negotiating the streets or to a rail yard that would carry me someplace promising.
Free Radicals was in a semi-organized disarray, but they were having a breakfast of leftovers, so I was plied with cold potato hash and a bit of sausage and an orange and a literal handful of cereal. “The sooner we get done, the sooner we’re in air conditioning having coffee and real food,” said Cherry cheerfully as she hustled around with an armload of bedding.
I sat with Joe and Sara while I ate. “I saw some of the Science Faction folks packing up Vivi’s tent,” said Joe. “Guess her message worked, so at least that’s taken care of.”
It gave me a pang to think about her. Would we ever see Vivi again? At the very least, I hoped she would have a worthy adventure, out there beyond the white heather.
I closed my eyes and rubbed my face. Whenever I landed someplace I could rest, I was going to need about a week and a half of decompressing and sleep before I could process everything that had happened here.
When I looked up, Joe’s eyes were full of concern. “What about you, Mari? Where are you going from here?”
Suddenly, I didn’t want to leave. Not just because Morph was a great place to park myself for cheap, but because I didn’t want our weird little crack team of occultists and witches to be in different places. I wished we could all stay here, camping together and having the kind of fun we’d had last night when it sank in for all of us that we’d finished the work we had stumbled into.
“I don’t know.” I couldn’t hide my heavy heart.
“I need to catch a ride out of here. I guess I’ll see where that takes me.”
“Are you serious?” said Joe. “You think after everything you’ve done this weekend, all the time you’ve spent with us, we’re just going to all leave you in some random place to fend for yourself? Like out on a street corner, nice knowing ya, best of luck in your future? What kind of assholes do you think we are?”
“I didn’t want to impose.” My voice was very small. I was dangerously close to not being able to say anything anymore.
“You are ridiculous.” Sara smiled, affectionate. “You don’t have anyplace to stay right now?”
“No,” I said, in an even smaller voice, blinking hard.
“Well, you’re driving with me,” she said. I wasn’t going to argue. “You can crash at my place for a couple of days at least, but I think I know a house where friends of mine live where there might be an open room.”
“I don’t have rent money right now.” That was radically understating it.
“That’s okay. They’re good people. I think if I talk to them, they’d be willing to let things slide until you get your feet back under you.” She reached over and squeezed my hand. “Hey. We’re basically sisters now, right? Now that we’ve got the same mama hen looking after us? It’s going to be okay. I’m not going to let you fall.”
“We’re not.” Joe took my other hand. “Cherry and I don’t live too far from Sara. We can help.”
“Thank you,” I said, and the words were barely audible.
“And,” added Joe, “we’re taking you to breakfast when we get out of here. So don’t try to pull any of that ‘oh I’ll just have coffee’ bullshit.”
“Okay,” I said. “Deal.”
I helped them break down the camp and clean up--it was the least I could do. Dove found me there while I was working. “Hey. I came to see if you needed a lift out of camp.”
Goddammit. Even after I was such an irresponsible little shit, she was just so nice. I felt even guiltier about raining destruction down on their yurt. “Thanks, but I’ve got it covered. Looks like I might have a place to stay for a while.”
“That’s great, Mari. Really great.” Her brow creased. “Vivi’s ride told me to tell you that Vivi said thank you and she’ll see you soon. I hope she’s okay. None of us saw her take off, some kind of emergency, it sounds like?”
“I hope she’s okay too.” That was a hundred percent the truth.
“Thanks for helping her out when she asked for you. And for helping clean up the yurt. It was really nice meeting you, Mari.” She smiled, a smile that was sad at the edges. “I’m sorry things got a little weird with us this weekend, you know, earlier. I had fun driving in with you. Maybe next time we’ll get to know each other a little better.”
“Next time,” I promised. She gave me a hug. It felt genuine.
I was hauling some of Free Radicals’ trash to the dumpster when I saw him. Mr. Frosty, walking in the opposite direction.
He’d seen me. I groaned.
“Hey there.” He lifted a hand. “You on the cleanup shift?”
I wanted to lie and say yes just so he’d leave me the fuck alone. But he’d been kind to me when I needed it, and I’d made him a promise. Dammit. “No,” I admitted. “But I’m packed up. I could still put in some time before my ride is ready.”
He looked me over. “You look really beat. You feel okay?”
“I’m fine. Just tired.”
“I think you might be overheated. Or coming down with something.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “You’d better take it easy. Make you a deal, you come back next year, you do an extra shift. How’s that?”
I smiled. “Thanks.”
He tipped his hat and grinned back, his bright blue eyes crinkling at the corners. “See you next year.”
On the walk back, I looked around at Morph as it blew away, petal by colorful petal, on gusts of exhaust. I was beyond relieved to know that I had someplace to go, and that my new friends would be nearby looking out for me. But now that I didn’t have to worry about that, I was growing ever more melancholy to see everything coming down, all the lights unplugged and packed in cases, all the costumes exchanged for practical jeans and shorts and tee shirts, all the art burned or dismantled.
Dionne and Tamar were waiting for me when I got back to Free Radicals. Neither of them were joining the breakfast rush, and they wanted to say goodbye.
“I’m beat,” said Dionne. “Got a hell of a trip ahead of me, and I’m gonna try to make it into the office for a couple of hours later. Thanks for the roller coaster, kid. That was one for the books.”
I hugged her. It was weird to think of her going back to a normal house somewhere and putting on business casual clothes and writing on sticky notes in an office. In my mind she lived in some gothic old former Masonic lodge that was mostly made of bookshelves and potentially dangerous antiques. “I can’t even begin to thank you enough.”
She grunted a laugh. “Well, I can’t say it was fun, but I’ll say that since we survived it, I’m glad y’all called me. You don’t get many opportunities to put your shit into practice like we did this weekend.”
“Let’s talk soon.” Tamar hugged me too. “Once you get settled, I can think of some folks I should introduce you to. They’ll be able to help you better than I can with your...everything.” She waved her fingers around. I knew what she meant.
And then everything was done and it was time to go. Sara had plenty of room in her car for my little bit of stuff. I climbed into the front seat beside her, distracted by the beads and charms and old necklaces and buttons that dangled from her rearview mirror, by the intriguing collection of CDs lined up in the broken compartment between our seats, by the cup holder that appeared to be full of foreign coinage.
“First stop, breakfast.” She picked out a middle eastern-electronica CD and popped it in. “Next stop, new life. You ready for it?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “But let’s do it anyway.”
Hey friend!
I hope you had as much fun reading MetamorphosUS, Book 1 of the Mythfit Witch Mysteries, as I had writing it for you. Keep reading for a peek at Book 2, Prisoner of Agon, coming Spring/Summer 2021.
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an advance look at
Book 2 of the Mythfit Witch Mysteries: Prisoner of Agon
Coming Spring/Summer 2021
We gathered at Joe and Cherry’s house again two days later, them and Sara and me, because it was the most private of our spaces. I’d been jumpy with nerves all day, keeping myself busy to make the time pass quicker. At Columbina’s instruction, I had spent some time meditating in a bath laced with certain herbs I’d pilfered from the kitchen for spiritual cleansing, and then scrubbed myself with a paste made from olive oil and coarse salt, and showered clean. She had suggested wearing something both comfortable and that I reserved for spirit work, a standard rather outside the function of my limited wardrobe, so I had settled for comfortable and clean.
Joe and Cherry had rearranged their living room for the occasion, pulling the coffee table partway into the dining room and moving the beanbag chair into the center of the room. It was huge enough for me to lie on it with them all sitting around me. We agreed that Cherry, of the three of them, was the best-suited skill-wise to keep etheric watch over me by going into her own light trance. Sara bu
ilt a very small fire in the backyard fire pit, and into it threw seven red roses and poured a glass of red wine as an offering to Rosa Vermelha to ask her to watch over Sara and me and to guide Sara to help me if needed. Joe’s main job was to watch Cherry for any signs of distress and to pull me out of my journey if he saw from either of us that I needed it.
Cherry and Sara drew symbols on my palms, soles, and third eye with a strong-scented blended oil as Joe tended a charcoal disk and began burning mugwort on it. The musky, mossy scent of the smoke quickly filled the air and made me a little lightheaded. I settled back onto the beanbag chair and stretched out, wriggling until it shifted to support me comfortably. The room was lit only by candlelight, and the space was silent except for the faint muffled outdoor noises coming through the window and the low hum of the air conditioner.
“Are you ready?” Joe crouched beside me and stroked a bit of hair away from my forehead. “Not too late to change your mind if you’re not sure about this.”
“I’m sure.” My voice had a little edge of defiance.
Sara, on my other side, took my hand and squeezed it. “We’re keeping good watch over you, Mari. We’ll make sure nothing happens to you.”
I could tell from Joe and Cherry’s faces that they weren’t as sure about that, but they didn’t say it out loud. I snuggled down a little farther and squeezed Sara’s hand back. “I know you are. I feel good.”
Truth be told, I was scared. I had seen some weird, horrible shit in the journeys I’d done at Morph, and one of them had taken literal chunks out of my soul. I had less idea what I was looking for this time, and no way to know what I’d encounter. Joe was right that if something really bad happened to me there, we didn’t know if I could get trapped, or hurt, or even die. I didn’t think that I would; I was only planning to get the lay of the land and see if I could find a trail to follow. But there was still a chance.
Joe handed me the seashell figurine and I held it in my right hand. Cherry stretched out on one of the couches and let out a deep breath. Sara had a small Middle Eastern drum that she beat in a rapid, steady rhythm. I placed my left hand over Rosa’s key hanging from its cord around my neck and closed my eyes.
MetamorphosUS: Book 1 of the Mythfit Witch Mysteries Page 50