by Laura Rich
“She really trying to kill you,” Indira said. “But I stop her.” She grabbed my staff and advanced on Miri.
Miri looked unimpressed. Her head tilted down as if she was going to ram Indira.
Indira suddenly charged and practically flew around Miri with footwork so fast, I couldn’t follow it with my eyes. I flinched the first few times the staff made contact with Miri and lost count after a dozen. Each made a resounding, “Thwack!” I felt bad for Miri.
Almost.
Miri made a few attempts to grab Indira, but she was too slow. She screamed in frustration. After a while, she stopped blocking the blows and just watched Indira’s efforts, as if waiting for a bothersome fly to land.
Indira, tired, stumbled back in disbelief that Miri hadn’t gone down yet.
It’s true, she hadn’t gone down, but had grown…up? Her body expanded to fill the loose skill she embodied just minutes before, but this time with muscle. She grew taller and… roared.
Her hot breath shot out over the clearing and blew my hair back.
Indira raced back to my side and panted. “Where is she getting…this?”
I shook my head. “The talismans?”
“She was not like…this before.” Indira said. “What happen when…you see her?” Her eyes were still glued at Miri as she spoke.
My throat tightened and my heart raced. “I didn’t do this!”
“No, Kate,” Indira said. “I did not mean-” she turned to me, her face full of concern.
“Enough!” Miri’s voice boomed. The trees shook and pine needles shot down to the forest floor in lines, like animated rain.
My eyes tracked the needle’s descent as Indira’s words echoed in my head. How could I have triggered this behavior in Miri?
I watched in disbelief as another bolt of red lightning ripped through the air with a searing, crackling sound. The red glow washed over Indira’s face as she looked at me, completely unfazed by the crazy lady. This one was big enough to wipe both of us out.
“Indira, watch out!” I shouted and tried to shove her out of the way. Indira latched onto me with one strong claw-like grip and swung me behind her as she turned to face the full force of the lightning strike.
A scream, I’m not sure whose, hung in the air before another small explosion rocked the clearing. I was thrown back onto a soft bed of pine needles. My backpack broke my fall and I felt the crunch as the glass potion bottles shattered. My ears rang. I lay there for a few seconds, staring at the slim rows of white clouds against the moonlight sky. Slowly, I pushed up on my elbows.
Scorched pine needles had rained down and singed my sweatshirt. I brushed them off and staggered to my feet. As a cool wind blew the smoke away, I could make out the still, smoking forms of Indira and Miri.
I ran to my friend first.
13
Indira was on her stomach, and the back of her flowered tunic smoked. Her clothes were singed around the edges.
“Indira!” I said, and dropped to my knees next to her. My hands shook, but I put one on her shoulder. “Hey, are you…” I was afraid to put the final word to that sentence, for fear of the answer. “Are you there?” I held my breath and glanced up at Miri, who remained still.
Indira stirred.
My heart leapt.
She rolled over, and groaned. There was a hole about six inches in diameter in the center of her once-pretty tunic, and her skin there was bright pink.
“That.” she said, “Hurt.”
I sighed with relief and slowly shook my head. “You are one badass sari vendor, Indira. Stay here. I can get help.”
“No.” She grabbed my hand and hoisted herself up to one knee. “We must find Miri.” She used my arm as leverage and stood. “Get…knowledge.”
“She’s over there.” I jerked my thumb at Miri’s body, about twenty feet away from us. “Hasn’t moved a muscle.”
Suddenly, I connected the dots. Indira didn’t seem fazed by Madame Miri’s appearance or behavior at all. In fact, she said she had seen it before.
“Indira,” I said. “Daayani means witch, doesn’t it?”
“Witch is…Miri?” she said.
“More or less.” I said. I wasn’t about to get into the semantics of hedge-witch-infected-by-insane-talismans versus actual witch.
“Ah, yes.” She gave me a wry smile. “Daayani mean witch.”
“Sometime, you’re going to have to tell me more about what you know about witches.” I said.
“Sure,” she said.
A few yards away, Miri tried to push herself up, then collapsed. She tried twice more, failed, and began to whimper.
Indira and I looked at each other.
“Trick?” I said.
“Maybe.” Indira said, and shoved her finger on my chest, sending me sprawling back. “This time, you stay.”
My shoulders slumped. Of course, Indira’s injuries were all my fault. Not only was I probably still going to die, but I also hurt one of my friends.
She waited until I nodded, then hobbled over to Miri.
I rubbed my arms and shivered. I don’t think it was getting significantly colder that evening. I think I was getting feverish.
Crap.
I slipped off my backpack and undid the zipper. Pieces of glass tinkled at the bottom and the potion had soaked into wooden charms, which rendered them useless. “Well, that’s all shit now.” I zipped up the backpack and put it back on for warmth. So much for using the health potion or improvising my defense with the charms. Though, to be fair, those charms weren’t going to do anything against the kind of firepower Miri was packing.
Indira bent down over Miri, with her back to me.
My teeth started to chatter.
Indira turned and motioned for me to come over.
I crossed the clearing and peered down at Miri. “She alive?”
Indira lifted one of Miri’s eyelids and let it close. “Some. Enough for talking.”
I stepped over Miri and crouched by her head. “Miri, can you hear me?”
Miri moaned. So much for the rage demon.
“What are those talismans for?” I said. “What do they do?”
Miri lay still and tried to focus on me.
“Oh, fine.” I said. I was going to have to get information the hard way. For me.
I lifted her chin so I could look into her eyes and lowered my carefully constructed mental walls. I winced in empathy as a sharp stab of pain and regret stretched out from the connection between our gaze. I felt her utter despair and my walls crumbled as the connection was established. I gagged a bit, but just had to ride it out the best I could and get the answers I needed. So I could, you know, not die.
“You look like hell,” I said. “What happened?”
“You happened.” Miri whispered. “How do you live with this?”
Miri’s emotions pushed at me in pulses. Failure. I’m a failure. Nobody wants me.
This lady had some serious self-worth issues.
“Live with what?” I said. “Wait.” I shook my head. “Never mind. How do those talismans work?”
Miri drooled and her gaze went far.
“Hey!” I shook her. “Miri! Answer me! What do those talismans do? How do I reverse it?”
She took a rattling breath. “It steals a person’s innate talent or gift and…” she shivered, “gives it to the holder of the talisman.”
“That’s sick, lady.” I shivered.
“You don’t understand,” she said. “I had to have more or the power would fade after thirty minutes. An hour, tops. No one’s fortune stayed with me for hours like yours did.”
“Did you kill those four people in Michigan?” I said.
“I didn’t mean to,” her eyes rolled back in her head, then forward again, like some kind of malfunctioning slot machine. “I didn’t know that would happen!”
“‘The talismans made me do it,’ is not a valid excuse for killing people,” I said. “Especially since you did not stop.”
>
“But I can’t stop,” she said. “The talismans want. They need. But it’s…too much. I don’t want it anymore.”
Indira gripped my shoulder.
I squeezed her hand and was grateful for her presence.
“So you took too many fortunes and have a little headache?” I said. “Serves you right. Now tell me how to fix it.”
“I want to give yours back,” she whispered. “T-take it. I don’t want it.” She reached out to me.
Damnit. Waves of her anguish washed over me and I turned and threw up. Retching noises came from Miri and I felt her nausea as well as my own. What was going on?
Then, it hit me. We were in some kind of crazy feedback loop because she’d taken my fortune: empathy. How she didn’t get it all, I don’t know. I looked up and saw the talismans in her outstretched hand and I remembered my mother’s words.
It takes a strength of character to handle the gift of empathy.
I have that. It’s not the same as magic, but it’s powerful. She can’t even handle a small serving, but I can handle the whole enchilada. Or pizza. Or pie. Whatever. I could take back the power she took from me and save myself. Maybe by the time Mom would be back with a way to help everyone else.
“Kate, no!” Indira cried as she’d realized what I was doing.
Time slowed down to a crawl as I closed my hand over Miri’s. Our eyes shut in agreement and we jolted into darkness.
14
I opened my eyes. Had it worked?
Indira stood over me, wringing her hands. “Are you okay, Kate?”
I considered her question and did a quick check. The nausea and fever were gone. I wasn’t tired and my brain didn’t feel cloudy. None of the previous symptoms had returned and overall, I felt pretty good.
“I think so.” I said.
Miri lay motionless on the ground next to me. I felt the smooth metal of the talismans in my hand. They were heavy and tinged with an invitation to power. They wanted me to use them.
The wind had begun to pick up and the tall pines above us swayed. The stratocumulus clouds above the canopy lined up like fluffy rows of marching soldiers - my favorite.
I sat up. What is a stratocumulus cloud?
Madame Miri stirred and sat up. She ran her hand through her hair and clumps of what remained came away in her fingers. “Well, that will teach me to take talismans from tall, handsome men.” She sighed.
My thoughts drifted to Lily and Ella and who knows how many other people she’d condemned to death. Even those idiots outside. “What about the others? Are you going to fix them, too?”
Indira shook her head. “Bad daayani.”
“Judging by the way I feel, I just gave everyone’s fortunes to you,” Miri said. “Now it’s your job to figure out how to fix them. Those things didn’t come with instructions, you know.”
“Crap,” I said. “Is that why I know what stratocumulus clouds are?”
“Oh, that meteorologist guy’s fortune?” she laughed. “Good luck with that one. What a waste.”
I groaned. “Where did you get these talismans?” I needed to gather as much information about these stupid coins so my mother could reverse this. The collective fortunes of her (now my) victims swirled in my brain and they pulled me to draw on every single one of them. Math, music, welding, writing, architecture, ornithology and more. It was all there and it felt a little crowded. I hoped they faded after a few minutes like they did with Miri.
She looked at me sideways. “A man,” she said. “I met him at the Michigan renaissance festival. He was very attractive. And big.”
“And did the big, pretty man just give you magical talismans,” I said, “out of the goodness of his heart?”
She glared at me. “He said I was chosen,” she said. Her voice took on a hurt quality.
I grimaced at her naked vulnerability. Our empathy link faded and I threw up my walls. “Name?”
“I think he said his name was Liam or Leith something Irish-sounding like that.” She looked up. “I was just a simple fortune-teller like your mom.”
I clenched my fists. “You are nothing like my mother.” The talismans tickled my ear with violent ideas. I shook my head.
“And you’re not what you seem to be, either,” Miri said.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I said. “I’m a hedge witch. Nothing more.”
“I’m a hedge witch.” Miri snorted. “I know the difference.”
I glared at her and shoved the talismans in my pocket. “Are you talking about my empathy?”
“No, that was just a minor annoyance.” She laughed and waved her hand. “I’m talking about the power.” She pulled herself to her feet. “It’s not like the other girls, the ones with fancy clothes. They had power, but it was weak, almost nothing. Yours was…formidable. How do you use it without doing,” she gestured to herself, “this to yourself?” Her skin had grown paler as the red hue wore off and her eyes had lost their haunted look.
I looked at her drawn face. “Doing what?” I said. It felt like we were having two different conversations. “What are you talking about?” A slow, creeping feeling advanced up my spine.
“Sucking every bit of your energy?” she said. “Driving you mad. You must have some kind of spell to recharge, right? To stay sane?” Her eyes glittered. “What is your secret?”
“It’s not me.” I stared at her and tried to make sense of her words. “It has to be a side effect of the talisman,” I said as a million ideas rushed my brain, each one vied for attention first. A refrain played throughout: I am a hedge witch with empathy. That’s it.
“It’s fine if you want to play it that way,” she winked at me. “I won’t tell a soul.”
I shook my head. The only thing that made sense was that the power she felt was a side effect of the talisman. It had to be. “I need to go home.”
“I’m not stopping you,” Miri said. “Thanks for taking it back…and not killing me.” She stepped back as if what she said might trigger my primal rage beast or something.
I looked at her sideways. Weirdo! Why was she scared of me? But, since I couldn’t have her sticking around to cut into our business, and because my mother would probably kill her when she found out what she did to me, I said in a hard voice, “Now get out of town. I never want to see you again.”
“Absolutely,” she said. “I’m gone tonight.”
“Good.” I said, and turned to Indira. “I need to go find my mom.”
Miri ran into her tippy little truck and started the engine.
15
Indira and I headed back to the fairgrounds.
Most of the rennies had turned in for the night. Campfires burned down to smoking embers and the familiar crickets, cicadas and bullfrogs were in full concert. An owl hooted. “Eastern Screech-Owl of the Megascops asio family!” I whispered.
Indira snuck glances at me and guided me back on the path while the unique calls of at least a dozen other birds drew my attention. I knew them all.
We rounded a stand of pines and ran smack into my mother.
“Mom!” I said.
“Kate!” Mom screamed and grabbed me to her chest. “I’m so sorry, my love! I should have noticed something going on with my own daughter! I was just so caught up with the Bindan…” her voice faltered as she bit back a sob. “I came as soon I could after I pried your message out of that stupid, stupid man.”
I steadied myself and hugged her back. I breathed in her perfume of ylang-ylang and patchouli. The smell told me I was home. “I’m okay, Mom. Really.”
“It won’t happen again.” Mom said. “My own daughter…”
“I don’t blame you, Mom.” I squeezed her one last time and pulled away. “I fixed it. It’s all okay now, see?” I did a pirouette.
Mom shook her head and blinked back tears.
“Don’t cry, Mom.”
She sniffed once more and her face turned stoney. “What happened?” She was all business-witch now.
I to
ok a deep breath so I could give her the information to help her focus on healing me and everybody else and not go after stupid Miri, who was probably halfway to the East Texas border right now. I didn’t care about her anymore. I only wanted to help the other victims and the thing is, Mom can get a little revengy.
“Lily and Ella were right.” I said. “They did get whammied, and a whole bunch of other people did too, me included.”
“But, what-” she started.
I held up my hand. “And there are some talismans that take people’s good fortune. She got really powerful from all of the fortunes she took and attacked Indira, but that basically zapped her power.” I looked at Indira for her take on it.
“More or less,” she said, and rubbed the red spot on her chest.
I took a deep breath through the wave of guilt over Indira’s injury.
“Right. So she wanted to give me back mine, so we did that. She gave it back.” I dug the coins out of my pocket and showed them to Mom.
They glistened in the moonlight, as if ready for another fortune.
“She said she thought all of the fortunes transferred back to me when she gave me the coins.” I said.
Mom sucked in her breath. Her face paled in the moonlight as she stared at the coins.
My eyes grew wide. “What, Mom?”
“I thought I told you not to…” she blew out a ragged breath, “I told you not to get involved!” She ran her hand through her hair and paced a circle in front of us.
Indira leaned forward and reached for the coins.
I jerked my hand away. I didn’t need any more fortunes in here than I already had, though Indira’s Kalari-whatever would be very cool. “Don’t touch! That’s how it gets transferred!” That, and a few words of a spell, but I didn’t want to tempt fate. Or fortune.
Indira hopped back. “Sorry!” She cocked her head at my Mom and narrowed her eyes. “Clea, you have seen before?”
I caught Mom’s glare at Indira and short, unconvincing shake of her head.
“Mom, have you seen these before?” I repeated Indira’s question.