“Oh, I guess I didn’t think of it like that.”
The CB crackled. “This is Cecil to Rozene, over.”
After fumbling for a second, I answered. “Hey, I need your professional opinion on something. Can you come and get me at the station?”
“Is it anything in particular?”
“Yes, if I’m right, it’s a stubborn and persistent problem with which you are well-versed.”
“On my way, over and out.”
The door opened, and Avonaco walked inside carrying a few bags. “Lunch,” he announced.
While I shoved my burger into my mouth, Mato told him about my suspicions and shared with him Mr. Hughes’ address. “If he created our Wendigoag, what could he create of a witch? Would she be immortal?”
His question gave us both concerns. Avonaco said, “Let’s hope he doesn’t have the strength he once had. When he appeared to us so long ago, he was able to take corporeal form. As far as we now know, he hasn’t been able to do more than become a black mist.”
I’d finished my lunch and freshened up by the time Cecil arrived. The wind turned the white strands in his hair into a mist around him before he’d closed the door. The feathers in his braids settled down, and he looked at me expectantly. “Sam didn’t come with you?” Disappointment was clear in my voice. I hadn’t seen enough of him lately.
“What? I’m not enough for you, squaw?”
Avonaco and Mato laughed and shook hands with the tribal elder. I gave him a blank stare and waited for an explanation.
“The Chief is overseeing our hay and grain stores, making sure our livestock will have enough for winter. It could be done quickly, but when he is seen, everyone wants to talk about something or another. Sam’s busy, but I’m here. Tell me what this is all about.” He listened while I explained my hunch about Mr. Hughes’ crops and then motioned for me to follow him out to his truck. Mato waved goodbye while Avonaco pulled out a deck of cards and started shuffling them. It was a slow day at the Sheriff’s Office.
My door gave a slight squeak as I closed it. Cecil started the truck and drove us out of the parking lot and along the main street. “Many people are starting over.” He pointed out of the windshield. A new antique shop and a jewelry store were opening which had me smiling. “Even the wolves are making dens for themselves here. You have made a home and family for yourself, but I wonder if you are listening to what truly calls to your spirit. Are you a secretary and an aid in a library? Yes, those are worthy courses to follow, and you’ve served the community, but are these the things which call to you?”
Frowning, I turned to him. “I’m not sure what you mean. I wasn’t happy teaching. I enjoy working in the library, and it’s exciting upon occasion at the Sheriff’s Office.” We hit a pothole, and the truck rattled.
“The library is a transition for you. Law keeping is what calls to our brothers.”
“So, where do you think I should work? Holden might open a saloon. Should I audition to be a cancan girl?”
He snorted at me. “You and I dream walked together. We are connected in the spiritual plane. I saw you, and you saw me. Together, we fought the evil and won. I believe we should make a habit of it.”
I snorted right back at him. “Brilliant idea, Cecil. It’s kind of the reason I called you. I thought we could go help Mr. Hughes and see if the evil witch has anything to do with it. You know?”
“Smartass.” He motioned at me with his hand to slow down. “We’ll get there. Hold on. Listen.” I waited but didn’t hear anything. He rolled his eyes at me. “No, listen to yourself and what you just said. You called me because you knew together we could fight this evil, whatever it is, and heal the land. You want to know where you should work? I’ll tell you. You should resign from your current jobs immediately and become my apprentice.”
I stared at him and wondered if he was joking. “I’m not one of the tribe.”
“Oh, but you are, Rozene Stillwater-Reeves. You are wife to Sam and to Hunting Wolf, who has shared with you his immortality. It’s unfortunate that you aren’t a male, but we can work around it. Anyway, one day, you might have a son to whom you could pass down my knowledge if he hears the call.”
“Unfortunate I’m not a man….”
“Oh, don’t harp on that. We are spiritually connected which is all that matters. Think about it, but don’t ignore it. You have felt the call. Even though you’re a girl, I’m confident I can teach you to work with nature to rid the land of evil. You are a protector and healer by nature. It’s why you have not been fulfilled by these other paths you have tried to follow.” He stopped at the gate to Mr. Hughes’ property. He looked from me to the gate. “Well, it won’t open itself.”
“Ugh.” I got out of the warm truck and opened first one side of the cold metal gate and then the other. I decided to invest in a decent pair of gloves. He drove through the gate and then waited while I closed it. When I got back inside, I asked, “Would being your apprentice mean you’d be bossing me around constantly?”
He gave me a smug, superior look. “You are intelligent and have good sense. If you had put those qualities to good use, I would not have needed to prompt you to open the gate.”
I sighed loudly. He was intelligent enough to guess any comments I might make. We drove down the gravel road toward the open barn doors. I didn’t see any dogs, but Mr. Hughes heard our arrival and came out of the barn to greet us. I made quick introductions.
“Thank you for coming out. I can’t for the life of me figure out what’s wrong. It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen.” He had his baseball cap on and turned around backwards.
“Perhaps, I can identify the culprit,” Cecil suggested. “When did you first notice it?”
“Oh, a few days ago.”
The longer I stood on his property, the stronger the sense of wrongness I could feel in my bones. Cecil’s pale eyes met my eyes. I heard a whispered echo in my mind. “I feel it, too.” The voice was Cecil’s, and I gave a startled jump.
“You good? You look like you just saw a ghost.” Mr. Hughes sounded concerned.
“Just caught a chill.” I smiled.
“This is her first winter. Toughen up, girl. It’s only December. It’s going to get really cold in February.”
Unnerved, I put a fake smile on my face and played along. We could talk about it later. He nodded as if in silent agreement to my thoughts.
Mr. Hughes had continued talking, but I hadn’t paid him any attention. He was leading us out into one of his fields. “It’s worse here and seems to be spreading.” The ground crunched under our boots where the leaves had turned black and brittle.
Cecil crouched and rubbed some of the vegetation between his fingers. Then, he stood and brushed off his hands on his jeans. “All of this must be burned, or it will spread and kill all of your crops. Have you done anything differently?”
Mr. Hughes shook his head. My nose started feeling numb, so I tried rubbing some warmth back into it. He looked off into the distance. Then, he said, “I’ve got some kerosene in the barn.”
“That should do it. I’ll help you. We’ll want to contain the burn.”
The walk from the field to the barn seemed to take forever.
“Little lady, why don’t you go in the house? Mrs. Hughes might like some company. She’s got more free time since I hired a girl to help her. Go on. You look cold.”
“If you’re sure it’s okay. I don’t want to impose.”
“Oh, no. She gets lonely out here. Let yourself in through the kitchen.” He pointed toward the back of the house.
I started walking. By the time I got to the door, he and Cecil were carrying fuel cans from the barn and out to the field. Making a fist, I knocked on the door. “Hello? Mrs. Hughes? Mr. Hughes said I could come in and keep you company. It’s cold out here.” Not hearing anyone, I waited for a few seconds and knocked again. While straining to hear, a muffled sound reached my ears, and the sense of wrongness I’d been feeling returned with t
he strength of a tsunami.
The door was locked which seemed strange with Mr. Hughes working outside. However, my new strength made forcing it open a simple task. I didn’t want to overreact, so I decided to snoop and apologize for the door later. Something felt wrong in the house and had chills raising on my flesh, but then it could be the frigid temperatures. I wasn’t sure. I stepped inside and caught a whiff of something metallic. Everything in the kitchen looked to be in order. It didn’t seem as though the lady of the house had a mishap or anything. I moved through the kitchen and into the hall. Thick brown carpet silenced my steps and made the muffled cries for help all the clearer. I crept along the hall. Cautiously, I approached a step which led down into a sunken den. The metallic smell was stronger, and I knew it for what it was. Blood.
A couch with wooden armrests and cushions with an orange and brown pattern of wagon wheels and flowers, popular decades ago, an entertainment unit with a dead flat screen television, and a basket of yarn was all I could see from where I stood. Then, I noticed the afghan. Mrs. Hughes, I presumed, had been crocheting it, but it had fallen to the floor beside a chair, and the needles had come free of it. Her hard work was unravelling. Only something horrible would cause a woman to let her work come undone.
I debated turning around, leaving the house, and calling for help, but the sense of urgency I felt was too strong to ignore. I stepped down into the den and turned my head toward the muffled cries. An older woman with short white hair was tied to a chair, and she was trying to warn me through her gag. My stomach lurched when I realized why the dogs Mr. Hughes had warned me about had never appeared to bark their heads off at me. They were dead, throats slit, within a summoning circle which had been painted on top of the carpet. My thoughts rushed to my own puppies and how devastated I’d be if I were her with them murdered at my feet. Too late, I turned, but the knife was already slicing through my clothing, piercing my flesh, and sinking deep within my back. Someone grabbed me by my hair. Twisting to the side, I flung my attacker off and into the doorframe. I had just enough time to yank the knife from my back and shift. It was a kitchen knife, long, sharp, and wet with my blood. I deflected the one coming at my guts and jumped back. I slashed out with my bloody knife and finally got a look at my attacker.
“You!” It was the girl who had attacked me in the antique store in New Mexico.
“That’s right, cunt! You think you can take everything from me? My house, my spells, my power, my life, and my man? You’re wrong. I’ll kill you, take your shape, and everything you have will be mine. No one will even know. I’ve been watching you, listening to you, and know how to take over every aspect of your life. No one will miss you.” Her eyes had gone utterly black like the demonically possessed witches of New Mexico.
She lunged for my throat with her knife. Dodging her attack, I spun and kicked her in the back. She stumbled forward, grabbed a bookcase, and toppled it over on top of me. Heavy decorative tchotchkes fell from the shelves along with books. Something hard hit me in the middle of my forehead, and I saw stars. The knife flashed in while I tried to push the bookcase off of myself. It sank in between my ribs, going deep. Gasping for breath against the pain, I called on my wolf and found the bonds to Colby and Holden. I searched my soul for Hunting Wolf and Sam, found our spiritual links, and howled my fear and pain. It was a loud, plaintive call for help, one they couldn’t ignore.
It made Sophia furious.
I shoved the heavy bookcase aside, feeling something inside of me tear along the knife’s edges in my side as I did. The bookcase had given me a few lumps and bruises, and I wished it had been made of cheap particle board instead of solid oak.
Sophia grabbed the knife and yanked it down as she pulled it from me. I grunted with pain but slashed my knife across her forehead. She shrieked, and blood fell like a sheet of rain down her face, blinding her. I stumbled away from her, right into the toppled bookcase. Twisting my ankle, I went down hard on my knee onto one of the shelves. Taking advantage of my misfortune, she threw her weight on top of me, and her arm slashed down. Punching her arm out of the way, I managed to avoid her knife. I rolled out from beneath her and toward Mrs. Hughes. Her chair was situated in the center of the pentagram. Sickened by the poor dogs, I slashed through the ropes at her ankles and wrists before rolling away and launching myself into the body Sophia had possessed.
“You’re so stupid, little girl! I was right under your nose the entire time! I lured the strongest males away. They never suspected a thing. A few more hours and both you and Holden would have been dead, but your pussy-whipped little toys just had to run back to you.” Wickedly fast, she slashed at my face with her knife.
I stumbled back. “You can’t take my place, Sophia. They’ll know.” I grunted and dodged her knife as she brought it down toward my throat. Mrs. Hughes had made it to the door during our little chat which freed me to move without calling attention to her. Unfortunately, Sophia had started chanting. Rolling out from under her, I punched her in the throat. “What were you going to do to these people?”
Lurching forward, she sank her knife deep into my thigh. I screamed. She grabbed my wrist and slammed it down over and over again, sinking her nails deep until I had no choice but to drop my knife.
“He came home telling her all about meeting you. He didn’t think anything of letting the maid overhear.” She laughed. “What better time to sacrifice the old bitch and her dogs as an offering to my lord for the strength to kill you?” She yanked the knife out of my thigh and wiped her eyes on her sleeve. “I was going to bide my time, but now seems as good a time as any to kill you.” She gripped her knife in both hands above her head and before she could stab down was pulled from me and hurled through the air. She crashed into the wall, making the paneling crack.
Cecil yelled, “Run!”
Too weak from stab wounds to run, I crawled over the bookcase, shattered décor, and torn, bloodied books. I made it into the hall.
“Watch out!” Cecil warned.
I ducked. A large black crow screeched and flapped its wings wildly above me. Then, it divebombed me. Claws raked against my scalp and tore at my hair. Cecil ran after it. His boot crunched down on the back of my knee, smashing my kneecap into the carpet and twisting it until something inside of it seemed to snap. Bile rose up in my throat as black feathers fell around me. He had the bird in his hands. I looked up through a haze of pain and saw bear claws where his fingers should have been. They were sunk deep within the bird’s flesh. Wings stretched out in awkward angles.
“You won’t get away from me this time, witch.” A white glow emanated from Cecil. Lifting his boot from me, he found a better place to put his foot. The release of pressure made the pain in my knee even worse. He started walking.
The kitchen door crashed open, and feral growls reached my ears. Struggling to get up, I put all of my weight on my right foot and braced myself against the hall wall. I left bloody smudges on it as I made my way, hobbling behind him.
Wolves, more than I could count, paced near the kitchen door and around the property. They were being prevented from eating Mr. and Mrs. Hughes by four Wendigoag. One of them shifted into Hunting Wolf. He hurried to me in the kitchen where I leaned over the kitchen counter and picked me up into his arms.
Cecil yelled, “She was in the girl the entire time! She must have warded herself! Get a net or something!”
The huge crow slashed at him with its beak and tore gashes into his wrists with its claws. Holden, Colby, and Kasey shifted into human form. “Where’s some rope or something?” Colby yelled.
Mr. Hughes let go of his shaking wife and ran into the kitchen. He came back out with a large mesh bag full of onions which he dumped out onto the cement. Dry onion skins clung to the bag while others scattered in the wind. Colby took it from him and covered the crow with it. Cecil quickly removed his hands while Colby closed it.
The tree line shook, and wood splintered and cracked. Bracing myself for another attack, I clung to
Hunting Wolf, doubtful of what I could do to help while my wounds slowly clotted and healed. I gave a relieved sob when an army of bears roared onto the property. Shifting while he ran, Sam came to my side.
“Take her to safety,” Hunting Wolf ordered.
“Can you hold onto my bear?”
“I think so.”
Sam shifted, and Hunting Wolf lifted me to his back. My wounds were healing, but I felt weak from blood loss. The wolves snarled at the crow. All present felt the great evil contained within its form. She shifted back into the girl’s form and begged and pleaded from within the tight bag. I heard her cries while Sam lumbered away toward the forest. From the corner of my eye, I saw the wolves shift and walk with Cecil, Hunting Wolf, Colby, and Holden out into the burning fields. Sophia wouldn’t escape this time.
Chapter Sixteen
Exhausted, I lowered my head to the scruff of Sam’s neck. The army of bears moved silently through the woods. I could see their large, heavily furred bodies through the tree trunks around us. Deer and other wild animals caught our scents and ran to safety. I was embarrassed about getting my ass kicked. My stab wounds were healing and itched as they did so. However, my knee throbbed and ached like a mother fucker. Of course, the injury which hurt the most had been the result of an accident.
When Four Bears came into view, I saw men standing guard with rifles. The bears started shifting, and then Henry was beside me. Reaching up, he pulled me from Sam’s back. “I’m alright,” I insisted. I held onto his shoulders while he placed me on my feet.
It hadn’t been my best decision.
Putting my weight on my right foot sent such terrible pain into my knee that I almost passed out. Sam, no longer a giant bear, said, “That’s not good. Can you shift?”
Releasing my Wendigo, I discovered the unpleasant fact which was my knee was fucked up no matter which form I took. “Son of a biscuit eater. Let me see if it hurts in the night hunter form.” I shifted into the putrid creature, and the men collectively stepped back. I howled its pain and shifted again.
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