Touch of Shadow

by April Aasheim

  I had known Dave my entire life, yet I had never seen him look at me with such utter disbelief. He opened his mouth to speak, then snapped it shut just as fast.

  “I wouldn’t make this up.” I promised.

  A sharp crackling sound snapped our heads towards the baby monitor. The screen sputtered, rolled twice, then went dark. Dave picked it up and tapped the power button. It came back on, but instead of the crib, the screen was filled with a snarling gray face and red hateful eyes.

  Dave dropped the monitor and ran for the room. I followed, snatching up the iron keys on my way.

  A changeling was crawling up the backside of the crib, while another teetered on the top rail. They jeered when they saw us, snarling and screeching out indecipherable threats. The one atop the rail jumped at Dave, wrapping itself around his face. It opened its tiny black maw wide, draining the blood from his face as it sucked away his breath.

  “Leave him alone!” I attacked it with the iron keys, smacking it as hard as I dared. The changeling squawked, unpeeling itself from my friend and dropping to the ground. Its eyes turned on me, settling on my fearsome weapon.

  The other appeared at its side. I swung my arm out, letting them know I wouldn’t back down. Instead of attacking, they leapt clear over me, darting into the bathroom. Before I could catch them, they scurried out the open ventilation window above the shower.

  “We need to go now,” I said to Dave. “Grab Little P. I’ll get his bag.”

  This time, Dave didn’t argue. He wrapped the baby in several blankets as I crammed everything that looked important into his diaper bag. Outside, the lights in the windows were all black again.

  “Where is Gus?” I asked as we ran to the streetlamp. His Caddy was nowhere in sight.

  A small horde of changelings emerged from the shadows around the motel. Some were on all fours, scurrying like mice, while others advanced on their back legs. They called out to us in their strange language.

  “Ooh gi groo lii go!”

  Little P started to cry in Dave’s arms, heightening the changeling’s excitement.

  “They’re not afraid of light, are they?” Dave asked hopefully, crowding close to the lamp, holding Rachel’s baby even tighter in his arms.

  “Just iron,” I said, hoping the keys were enough to keep them away. I circled along the edge of the lamplight, jingling the keys, giving them a good look at what I held in my hand.

  “Where’s your car?” I asked.

  “Jax needed it. He dropped me off.”

  “Gus was supposed to be here,” I said, hoping he hadn’t deserted us.

  “Gravedigger Gus? You got a ride from him?”

  I didn’t have time to explain. One particularly frail and desperate changeling came in close, bounding for my leg. I instinctively kicked out, sending it rolling across the pavement. This gave the rest pause, hopefully buying us a little time.

  Headlights came racing up, and Gus pulled to a stop beside us. “Sorry ‘bout that,” he said through the open window. “I chased off a pack of them with my car.”

  Dave climbed into the backseat with Little P, while I jumped in beside Gus. “We forgot the car seat!” Dave said.

  Gus hit the accelerator, pulling out of the parking lot almost before we could close our doors. Moments later we were speeding down Main Street.

  “I forgot my phone, too,” Dave said, looking behind him. “Rachel won’t know where to find us. What if she comes back and those things are there?”

  “They’re probably all over town now,” I said. “We have to get rid of them at the source.” Whatever that is.

  My phone vibrated. It was Alex, who had texted multiple times.

  I know where the seed is buried!

  Go to the seed of life.

  The SEED of LIFE! Hurry!

  The ritual is starting!

  The ritual was starting? How did Alex expect me to know where the seed of life was? Wasn’t that what we’d been looking for?

  Gus leaned over and read the texts. His hands gripped the wheel and his foot rolled over the gas pedal. “I know where the Seed of Life is.”

  “You do?”

  “Yes. It’s a place, not a thing.” He spun the Caddy in a wide turn, and soon were bouncing down an unpaved road. “The Seed of Life. Some say it’s holy… and some say it’s cursed.”

  .

  Twenty-Eight

  “The Seed of Life. You don’t hear much about that anymore, outside one of them woo-woo festivals. It’s an old landmark, out near Pioneer Creek.” Gus turned up the radio long enough to sing a chorus from Fulsome Prison Blues along with Johnny Cash, before returning to his train of thought.

  “Some say the bog witches made it, before they got exiled. Others say it’s much, much older.”

  I hoped Gus and my brother were both talking about the same location. If a ritual really was taking place there tonight, we couldn’t afford any false leads.

  Gus turned off the road and drove into a thin area of the forest. He maneuvered through the trees with precision. His old car rattled but complied. Finally, we came to Pioneer Creek – a slow-moving stream with water as dark as oil.

  “We’ll walk from here,” Gus said, pulling to a stop.

  We all got out. Gus opened his trunk and removed a hoe. Dave held Little P protectively, giving me a questioning look.

  “In case we get separated, it’s that way,” Gus said. “Follow the creek downstream until it veers sharp right, just on the other side of that thick patch of birch.”

  I led the way with the flashlight, along a treacherous creek bank of rocks and mud. Dave followed with Little P. Gus trailed behind, slow but persistent, brandishing his hoe at every stray noise.

  My moonstone ring suddenly tightened around my finger. I Stopped abruptly, and a changeling dropped out of the trees directly in front of me, arms raised and ready to charge. Gus rushed up, spry for a man his age, and beat it back with his hoe. The creature tumbled backwards into a tall patch of grass.

  Fear threatened to overcome logic in the darkness. I concentrated on the breath coming from my mouth and the sound of packed earth beneath our feet as my moonstone ring flashed again and again.

  As we neared the bend in the creek, the night came alive with the changelings’ battle song.

  One leapt from a bush, grabbing the pacifier from Little P’s mouth before landing at Dave’s feet. Gus was quick to swat it away. I scooped up the pacifier and jammed it in my pocket.

  “We’re almost there,” Gus promised, his breath telling us he was heavily winded. He draped himself against a tree to gather himself. “Soon as we round the bend, we’ll cross over… hey… get off me, you bastards!”

  Two changelings were suddenly flanking him, circling in search of opportunity. He fought them off with growl and gusto. “Keep going without me!” he called out. “Don’t miss that ritual! These rat wannabees won’t take me down!” To demonstrate, he knocked both away with just one swipe of his hoe.

  I felt guilty leaving him, but he seemed capable enough… unless he got swarmed.

  I wouldn’t think of that.

  We kept going, moving as fast as we dared in the darkness. We came to the bend. All was quiet except the trickling stream. That was either a good omen, or a bad one.

  “Let’s cross here,” I told Dave, picking out a wide shallow spot. I hastily pulled off my shoes and waded in, my breath catching at the frigid water. Feeling my way with my toes, I carefully crossed the moving water with Dave close behind. We reached the other bank, but there seemed to be no trail into the trees.

  “Which way?” I asked, looking around.

  A lightning bolt ripped the sky overhead, but without the accompanying sound of thunder. The illuminated trees were overflowing with changelings, moving from branch to branch toward the light.

  “This way!” Dave said, running ahead of me.

  The changelings whooped and gurgled in the canopy above, as we all raced to the unseen destination ahead.

>   We came to a large glade covered thickly with dry yellow grass. Standing at the far side of the clearing, with several changelings at her back, was Audrey. She wore a long white dress and had flowers in her hair. Her palms were clasped together, raised high, and I caught a flash of silver between them. Is that a knife? I started to run forward, but someone jumped out from behind a tree and grabbed my arm. Alex!

  “You nearly gave me a heart attack!” I whispered, pushing him away.

  My brother looked at Dave and Little P. “Where’s Gus?”

  “I’m hoping not far behind.”

  “I didn’t mean to scare you guys, but the number of changelings you see now is nothing compared to the ones you don’t see. I think they’re all here now… waiting.” Alex pursed his lips as he scanned the clearing. “She hasn’t even noticed that we’re here.”.

  “Have you seen Rachel?” Dave asked, jiggling the baby in his arms. “This might be the longest he’s gone without seeing his mama. You don’t think the changelings got her, do you?”

  Alex looked down at his feet. “Earlier I heard her and Garett somewhere nearby.”

  “Oh,” Dave answered, his voice registering many levels of concern.

  Alex quietly steered us to a large angular stone rising up from the earth, nearly as tall as me. We crouched down behind the rock. “Look there,” Alex said, pointing into the clearing.

  Shadows. Dozens of them. Shadows that stretched long and tall across the field. There were noises too – excited exclamations akin to the smacking of lips.

  Seven green candles circled wide around Audrey, doing little to stave off the blackness. But she was aided by a full moon and periodic flashes of light that shot up before her.

  “C’mon. I’ll get you a closer look,” Alex said.

  Little P was coming awake, fussing as he looked for food. I handed Dave back the pacifier. “Thanks,” he said, smiling gratefully.

  He cleaned it off on the baby blanket before popping it into his mouth. The baby was soothed, but I knew it wouldn’t hold. “We’ll stay here,” Dave said. “Be careful.”

  I handed him the iron keys. “Run if you have to.”

  “You, too.” He nodded at me solemnly.

  A smile passed between us – the smile of old friends, and perhaps, opportunities missed.

  Alex led me to a thicket, where he retrieved the pitchfork. He held it tight against his side as we crept along the tree line. We stopped, uncomfortably close to Audrey and the gathering imps. Alex parted some low brush, giving us a clear view.

  My eyes were fixed on Audrey, until Alex directed me to the ground. “See the rocks?” he asked, pointing out various stones wedged into the glade.

  Only then did I notice the arrangement of stones embedded in the earth. There were seven identical circles – one in the center surrounded by six more. Each overlapped its neighbors, forming an elaborate, flower-like pattern at the core. Once I saw what I was looking at, I easily connected the dots.

  The Seed of Life.

  A sacred shape in many cultures, thought to be the key to creation.

  “How did you know to look here?” I whispered to Alex.

  “Elmer told me Audrey used to come here. I put two and two together.”

  From this vantage point, I could see that the green candles around Audrey were set into small black sconces. Iron. I noticed something else, another design set in the center ring where she stood: Three spirals around a center spoke, just like the Faery marks. It was formed from an effervescent glittery substance, sparkling like champagne bubbles at her bare feet. This was not Audrey’s first venture into magick.

  “Is the seed buried here?” I asked Alex.

  “I’m guessing. Just before you got here, she was anointing the area with oil and asking the moon for a blessing.”

  “Audrey!” It was Rachel, calling out from the other side of the clearing. Garett was beside her. “If you go through with this, your baby will be born with the Fae mark, just like mine! Let the seed die, Audrey. There are other ways.”

  Audrey snapped out of her trance. Her face flushed with anger. “I told you to leave me alone!” she cried. “We made a deal! I helped you get a husband, and you helped me get a baby. Fair’s fair.”

  “My husband went mad because of these creatures!” Rachel called back, as she and Garett cautiously approached the circles. “Audrey, they’re relentless. They’ll hunt my son for years. I should never have sent you that seed, and I’m so sorry for not stopping you sooner.”

  “Why do you care?” Audrey hissed, lowering her hands. She was indeed holding a shiny silver dagger. She held it out threateningly. “You should already have left, if you were that concerned about your son’s safety.”

  “You don’t get it. We have nowhere to hide. And neither will you.”

  “Kill the seed.” Garett spoke up, his hand out cautiously. “We’ll try again, baby. We can even get married, if you like.”

  “Do you think I’m that naïve?” Audrey glared. “You never wanted this baby, and you never wanted me! No one has ever really wanted me for who I am. Elmer fed off my youth like I was his oxygen tank! And you... you just wanted the challenge of getting me. You’re not taking the one thing from me that’s all mine. I warn you! Don’t step into this Faery Ring.”

  Audrey raised the long-handled dagger. A drop of blood glistened at its tip.

  The ground swelled, shifting at her feet. The wind began whipping up, swirling and focused around her. Rachel and Audrey looked at one another, through the gust.

  The seed was opening.

  Twenty-Nine

  A bay leaf round a faery ring

  Sends the cursed back home again

  “Alex, I know how to stop the changelings,” I said, watching the ritual unfold toward its culmination.

  “How?”

  “Nick told me.”

  “Huh?”

  “Just cover me, please.” I raced across the glade while all eyes were on Audrey. As I ran, doubts quickly settled in. What was I thinking? I was risking everything based on one line from a poem.

  A poem written by the apprentice stepson of a very powerful witch.

  The cyclone around Audrey grew in a frenzy, gathering up whatever it could carry. I waited for the perfect moment, since I only had five bay leaves.

  The trembling of the earth grew outward from the seed. The nearest changelings tottered and then fell; they were sucked up into the air, spinning round and round in the whirlwind. But still they continued to amass, pushing stubbornly forward. The time of the seed had arrived.

  “Audrey! You need to stop this!” Rachel called, her hand raised against the whipping debris. “Your child will never be safe!”

  Audrey ignored her, as a marvelous magenta flower thrust up from the earth at her feet. “It will be a girl!” she cried out.

  “I won’t let you ruin me!” Garett yelled, pushing through the whirling wind. When he reached Audrey, he kicked at the flower, severing a petal. It was immediately absorbed into the storm.

  “This isn’t your decision!” Audrey slashed at Garett with her dagger, ripping through the front of his shirt.

  The changelings continued to be flung away, yet dozens more converged. They were in a fever as they sucked in the aromatic scent that would give one of them youth again.

  Sensing I was finally close enough, I opened the Ziploc baggie.

  A firm hand grabbed my wrist. “I can’t let you do this yet, Baylee. That seed needs to be destroyed. We need to let the Fae feed off its life essence first.”

  “Nick?” He was standing beside me. Where had he come from?

  “We’ve worked too hard,” he continued, holding my arm tightly. “If you interrupt the ritual and send them back now, that baby will be born… and my brother’s life will be ruined. And so will mine.”

  “What have you done, Nick?” I asked, seeing him differently now.

  Instead of answering, he grabbed for the baggie in my opposite hand. I tried to pul
l away, struggling against him, but he was much stronger than me.

  “Leave my sister alone!” Alex jumped on Nick’s back, covering his eyes with his hands. Seizing the opportunity, I wrangled free. Nick fought to buck Alex, but my brother held tight. “Do it, Baylee!” he shouted at me.

  I released the leaves into the whirlwind. The effect was immediate – the whole world seemed to splinter and break beneath our feet.

  Sinuous green vines erupted from the ground inside the circles, slithering inward.

  “What in the hell?” Garett asked, a vine gripping his ankle. All around him, the vines were wrapping the changelings, pulling them down into the earth.

  “Garett!” Nick called out, Alex still clutched to his back. “Get out of there!”

  Rachel screamed as a vine sprouted up, coiling itself around her waist. Twisting and stomping, she managed to free herself. She fled the stone circles, leaving Garett to fend for himself.

  Gaping sinkholes now pitted the ground, funneling down everything within the circular pattern. The changelings screamed as they were pulled under. Audrey and Garett stood amid it all, looks of horror on their faces.

  Garett lashed out and seized the dagger from Audrey, using it to swipe at the tentacles snaking and thrashing around him. For each he cut, another took its place.

  Nick screamed as his brother was swallowed in a massive tangle of green vines. Audrey too, was soon overcome.

  This all happened in an instant.

  A moment later, everything remaining within the Faery Circle was dragged down, the earth sealing itself up behind it.

  It was all gone - Audrey. Garett. The changelings. The Seed. The bay leaves. The vines. The wind.

  It had all been swallowed by the earth.

  The field was now green and lush, no longer the dry yellow grassland we had first come upon. Otherwise, there was no outward sign that anything had happened at all. Except for Rachel, who was crying on her knees at the edge of the circle.