First Destroy All Giant Monsters (The World Wide Witches Research Association)

by Carter, D. L.

  The clouds overhead thickened and a wind picked up, driving leaves and loose streams of color into Amber’s eyes.

  “Where did you go?” asked Amber, pitching her voice over the wind.

  “We didn’t. I never went anywhere with her.” Karl’s voice cracked. “No. That doesn’t make sense. You’re right. We did go around together. Just … Gloria must have blocked me. I can’t have spent all that time doing nothing. That’s ridiculous.”

  Amber took both Karl’s hands in hers.

  “This weather tells me that there’s something hidden in your memory. Just asking about it causes turmoil. You’re going to have to face it. Take me there.”

  “I can’t think of anything. It’s weird. I have this certainty. This solid conviction in my gut that I held out against her. Never did get involved in magic,” Karl stared at the boiling clouds. “Yet, I have to doubt anything that certain. Where Gloria is concerned, that’s most likely to be false.”

  The wind whipped her hair across her face. Amber used both hands to hold it out of her stinging eyes.

  “I agree,” she shouted, “The remaining spells have to come off. I asked Sandy to stand by. She’s going to catch them as I break them and ground the energy safely.”

  “Then what are you waiting for?”

  “I was kind of hoping that one of them would light up like the ‘don’t read’ spell did, but they haven’t. So we’re going to have to do this the hard way. Peel them off one at a time.”

  “That’s going to take too long.”

  “It’s safer.”

  Amber looked up at the sky again. Random strikes of lightning flickered within the clouds, thunder echoing. Karl lifted his chin.

  “I don’t know about safer,” he shouted, “Right now, faster is more important.”

  “I don’t want to skin you, psychically. You’ve already taken enough damage.”

  “So you keep saying, Amber, love. But sooner or later a risk is necessary. The coven is standing by to give you help. Can you feel them?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then grab your potato peeler and get to work.” Karl hugged her, then released her. He squeezed her hands and closed his eyes. “I trust you.”

  Amber leaned forward and kissed him lightly on the lips.

  “Love you, Karl.”

  Freeing one hand she flexed her fingers, calling forth the potato peeler. She could if she were careful, cut through to the first and deepest of the spells and pull all of them off in one thick mass. If she moved fast enough she could throw the energy away, send it to Sandy where she and the coven were waiting to ground it out before the torn spells started to interact.

  If.

  Amber tightened her grip on the peeler and pressed it against Karl’s chest. It sliced through the outermost spell easily. Amber felt the slight change in pressure as the tip went through the next layer and the next. Each spell thinner than a whisper of silk and harder than the chin of a stubborn child. The outermost spells started to flake and peel back. Amber watched the energy sparking, twisting and pushed harder. A sudden change in resistance warned her, just too late, that she was at the last layer. The tip of the knife bit into Karl’s spirit skin.

  He staggered, gasping as his energy poured forth. Amber hooked her fingers into the edge of the cut spells and pulled, tearing the hole bigger. Then she thrust her hand in under the layers of spells, shoving her palm hard against the hemorrhaging life force. Her other hand continuing to tear off chunks and strips of the broken spells. Tatters and splinters caught under her fingers and in her hair, burning. She batted the floating fragments away from her face, all of her attention on the fading Karl. Desperately she called on the strength of the coven, gathering the healing power they raised and pouring it into Karl as fast as his own strength leaked away.

  Breathless moments passed as his life flowed out between her fingers. Amber closed her eyes, pressing hard against him, whispering prayers to the Elementals for healing. Finally the flow eased and his spirit wound sealed over. Amber wrapped her arms around Karl and lowered him to the ground.

  Amber released the flow of power from the coven and lifted her hands. The shattered and torn fragments drifting around her gathered, clustering and turning. She brought her hands closer and closer together, binding and compressing what remained of the spells. Most of the energy had flown to the coven, but there were little bits left. They were too small for Amber to know their previous intent, but they hovered in the air. Little power pockets. She gathered all the little pieces together and leaked the trapped energy into another spell shape. An oddly shaped bundle of energy with no intention or direction. Amber leaked a little more of her own strength into it, watching the mass grow. It worried her, having power sitting around with no spell to guide it, but she might need the strength standing by. If it was content to just loiter, instead of trying to become a part of her she was content to let it.

  At her feet Karl groaned and stirred.

  “That was horrible.”

  “I’m so sorry. I was clumsy.” Amber knelt beside him, brushing his hair back off his face. “Do you remember anything more?”

  “No. You were great. No one could have done better.” The still darkening clouds above caught his attention.

  Karl shifted, half rising until he could wrap his arms around Amber’s waist, resting his head on her breasts.

  “I remember …”

  Lightning struck the pavement beside them shattering the concrete and sending splinters flying.

  “Was that a warning?” Karl twisted to shelter Amber from the debris.

  “Yes, but it’s a message from you to you.”

  Amber struggled free of his embrace and climbed to her feet. Above them the clouds tore apart and rain fell. Large heavy drops that stung when they struck flesh. Wind howled between the buildings catching their clothes and hair, driving blinding rain into their faces.

  “Why is this happening?” shouted Karl, “Did you miss a spell?”

  “This isn’t Gloria’s doing or mine. These are your memories. She might have tried to block some of them, but now the spells are gone, you are the one stopping the memory from coming forward.”

  “But I want to know what happened.”

  A tree shattered, splitting in two. One huge branch descended slowly toward Amber, falling against the movement of the air. Karl grabbed her arm and dragged her away.

  “I don’t think you really do,” Amber put both hands over her blowing hair. “You’re taking me away from the center of the storm.”

  “That tree would have fallen on you!”

  “Only because your memory wanted it. To protect you.”

  “Protect me from what?”

  “Something bad. We don’t know unless we look. And as long as you refuse to face this memory Gloria has power over you.”

  “How do you know?” he demanded.

  “I don’t know it,” Amber cried, “I feel it. The web is attached to you at three points. Your head, your heart, and your basic drives. I’ve taken everything else away, but those three are still here. I couldn’t find the root of them. They’re anchored in you. Something happened to make you vulnerable in those areas and Gloria took advantage of it.” Amber’s skin stung and reddened as her soaking hair whipped her face. “She attacked your basic drives with a lust spell. That’s easy enough. But how did she get into your head and heart? What happened to you? Did you let her in willingly?”

  “No. Never. I may’ve slept with her, but I never liked her. I still remember that.” Karl stood straight and tall against the wind. The storm crashed and tore the sky behind him, but he ignored it. “I think …”

  “What?”

  Karl took Amber by the hand and turned into the wind.

  “I think we go this way to find out.”

  The wind suddenly gave way, vanishing, leaving Amber and Karl standing on the grass outside an ordinary house. Amber first thought that her ears rang from the sudden cessation of the storm. Then she tur
ned her attention to the new scene. From within the house they could hear rock music blaring at nosebleed levels and shouts of shrill laughter. On the street, car engines were being revved.

  Amber clutched Karl’s hand, linking her fingers with his.

  “Do you remember where we are?”

  “Party at Mike’s house. Mike, you know, the wolf who died. We all, that is, some of the coven, some of the college crowd, came over to Mike’s house just before spring break. We were celebrating the end of final exams. First year. I just finished paying for my car. We’d painted it white and souped it up as best we could. We thought we were the kings of the world.”

  On the street Karl’s Mustang appeared, sunlight dancing on the brilliant white paint. Three girls were sitting on the back of the rear seat, waving to nearby friends. A younger Karl sat at the wheel. Gloria waited on the sidewalk. Grinning, the young Karl slammed the car into motion, speeding off down the street. The girls in the back seat waved and smiled. After only a few yards the car lifted sideways and tossed the three girls from their perch to the road. Their bodies bounced against other cars parked on the street and they fell like broken, bleeding puppets to the ground.

  Karl screamed and clutched Amber to him, pressing his face against her neck. Amber wrapped her arms around him, rocking him back and forth, whispering and crooning in his ear.

  “Easy. Easy, love.”

  “My fault,” Karl groaned. “This is what I didn’t want to face. They died and it’s my fault. Mine. Mine.”

  Amber opened her eyes, blinking away tears. The accident had happened so quickly. There was no way Karl could have avoided …

  Amber pulled back a little from Karl’s grip and stared at the road. The road surface was smooth. No other cars were nearby. Nothing. Why had the Mustang flipped?

  She reached up and brushed the tears from Karl’s face.

  “Listen. I think we need to do this again.”

  “What? This isn’t anything we need to look at. I remember now. This was a horrible accident. Those poor girls weren’t even eighteen and dead because of me.”

  “Why was the memory blocked and why did you survive?”

  “Huh?” Karl raised his head and stared.

  Amber waved her hand at the street. The overturned car, the girls’ bodies still lay where they’d fallen. The young Karl rested limply in the driver’s seat.

  “Why didn’t you die? I didn’t see you put your seatbelt on when you drove off. The way the car turned over, shouldn’t you have been thrown as well?”

  “I don’t remember the seatbelt. I must’ve been wearing it.”

  “Did you? Usually?”

  Karl examined his memory.

  “Back then? No. Not until after the accident. I didn’t think it was cool to drive a convertible and wear a seatbelt. Drove my mother crazy.”

  “Okay. So let’s have a look at this from another angle.”

  Amber walked a few yards down the street and stood opposite to where the car started to overturn.

  “Let’s run this again.”

  Amber waved her hand, pointing back toward Mike’s house. Karl turned, facing the upper end of the street. His car vanished and reappeared outside of Mike’s house. The girls piled into the back of his car. They arranged themselves like movie stars for a parade on the back of the seat. Waving gaily to the pedestrians nearby the girls urged Karl to drive. A watching Gloria shouted her encouragement. Young Karl again slammed the car into gear and drove off.

  Amber and Karl watched closely as the car went past them. The front wheel lifted off the road, turning the car onto its side. Hidden from their sight they could only listen to the screams of the girls as they fell.

  “What did you hit?” demanded Amber.

  “I don’t remember. But you’re right, I should’ve been thrown.”

  Amber walked slowly over the street, bending down to run her fingers over the road surface. Smooth. Karl’s memory painted it as smooth as a lie.

  “This road … ?”

  “Was resurfaced a few weeks before the party,” Karl paced back and forth along the sidewalk. “I remember visiting Mike’s parents with him and having to find somewhere a few blocks away to park.”

  “Okay.”

  Karl walked away from her and stood in front of the young Gloria, examining her laughing face. Karl looked back and forth between the shattered bodies of the girls and Gloria.

  “She doesn’t seem upset,” Amber came up to stand beside him. “Did it take her awhile to go into shock or something?”

  Karl shook his head.

  “I don’t remember her being upset at all. I was the one screaming.”

  Amber looked at young Karl in the car.

  “You’re not screaming there. When did you start?”

  “After the car overturned.” Karl looked at his young self, limp behind the wheel. “I went crazy. They had to hold me down. I kept trying … I don’t know what … I just kept screaming. My mother had to come.” Karl’s hands clenched and released, the muscles of his arms rigid as steel, “I think … I need to see this again, only, for a little longer.”

  The air rippled. The overturned car faded and reformed back beside the sidewalk. Again the car sped off, flying and falling. Screams filled the air and horrified partiers flooded out of the house onto the street. Amber watched Gloria. Hers was the one face amongst the watchers that did not change but remained … joyful. Excited. Malicious.

  Karl walked around the car, ignoring the spectators who tried to stem the flow of remembered blood.

  “I hear screams in my memory, but I don’t see anyone screaming here,” Karl studied the scene dispassionately, “There are some kids crying, but most are speechless. Or babbling. Let’s see this again.”

  “Wait,” Amber caught his shoulders and turned him away from the wreck, “First, talk to me. Why did this happen? What were you doing?”

  “Doing? The girls wanted to be on parade. Homecoming queens. Returning astronauts. You know the deal. They kept saying my car was perfect for it. Kept asking to be driven around the block.”

  “Why did you agree?”

  “I … I … didn’t,” Karl concentrated on the distant memory, “I was busy. Wasn’t interested. Didn’t want their shoes to damage the leather. The guys and I were talking, drinking. I had the hood up and was showing off the work I’d done.”

  “Then why did it happen?”

  “Gloria said she wanted me to.”

  “Gloria?”

  “Yeah. If I didn’t go along with some of her ideas she had ways of making me miserable for days. So I did it.”

  Behind him came the sounds of tearing metal and screams.

  Amber shook her head.

  “Not good enough. Why would your girlfriend let you drive other women around like homecoming queens and not her? Why wasn’t she in the car?”

  “Uh …” Karl turned and studied the scene again. The three girls were climbing into the seat. This time Gloria was guiding them, encouraging them to sit on the back, waving to them. The drunk and puzzled teenagers waved back uncertainly.

  “It’s different. It changed,” cried Karl.

  “Yes. I think we’re getting closer to the truth. There’s a difference between what really happened and what you remember. Or rather, what you were blocked from remembering.”

  “This still feels wrong,” said Karl after a pause and he took a step toward the car.

  “So, close your eyes and tell me what you feel.”

  “I’m not sure,” Karl closed his eyes and concentrated, “I don’t feel anything.”

  “Okay. You were showing off your car, yes?”

  “Yes.”

  “Was Gloria with you?”

  “No. She came out of the house.”

  The scene flickered again. Amber watched as the door opened and Gloria emerged followed by several other party guests.

  “What did she do?”

  “She asked me … wanted me to drive a couple of the g
irls around the block.”

  “Not her.”

  “No.”

  “Was she often like this? Arranging things for other people’s pleasure?”

  “No. Hell, no! This is odd. Usually she couldn’t care less.” Karl opened his eyes and looked down at Amber, “She was inconsiderate and selfish. I can’t imagine her wanting to let someone do something like that in my car. She was territorial about it. About me. Kept asking me to let her drive it, but I wouldn’t. Maybe this isn’t a true memory, either.”

  “Let’s see how it plays out.”

  Again the girls filed out of the house. Karl was bullied and teased by his girlfriend into reluctant compliance. Amber watched a sulky Karl leaning against the car, beer in hand as the three girls were put into the car and arranged in place by Gloria. The car moved off.

  “Wait!” shouted Amber. The scene froze. “Who’s driving?”

  “Huh? I am.”

  “Yeah? When did you get in? I saw Gloria putting the girls in. You were standing beside the car. You were mad. You turned your back on them.”

  The memory image froze and they ran to stand beside the car. The girls were perched on their seats, but the front seat was empty.

  “I don’t get it,” Karl muttered.

  “You don’t remember getting in the car.”

  “I must have!”

  “Really? Think about it. When?”

  “Ahhhh. Dammit. I don’t remember getting in. But I had to. I was driving. No one drove my car but me.”

  “Let’s take it again from the top. Who came out of the house with Gloria?”

  Karl faced the house. The house shimmered, faded as Karl concentrated, forcing the memory back into existence. One window frame at a time the house reformed. The door opened and four women and a man exited.

  “Who’s this one?” said Amber, crossing to walk beside him.

  “Jimmy King.”

  “He wasn’t here before.”

  “Yeah. He hung around with us. Friend of Gloria more than me. Knew her before me.”

  “Was he in the coven? He wasn’t on your list.”

  “That was because he never graduated. He died.”

  “When? And how?”

  Karl growled and gripped Amber’s arms, lifting her off her feet. “In a car accident. Damn it, Amber, he died in a goddamned car accident our first year at college.”