The Binding Witch and the Bounty Hunter

by Laura Rich

  “She vowed to remain hidden from humans and just feast on forest Fae and fauna,” Indira said. “And Leo said we could trust her to keep that vow.”

  “Do you really think she’s going to eat any of the forest gnomes?” I said.

  “Maybe,” Indira said. “But those little gnomes are smart. I bet they’ll find a way to survive and make it work for them. The best fighters do.”

  I gave her a side-eyed glance as I recalled her fury on the battleground. “You’re an amazing fighter, Indira. Also, kind of scary.”

  “I have been hunting demons since I was a child, Kate. It is what I have done to every demon I ran across before I met you and your mother. I do not know what I will do tomorrow, but today, you have my word that I will help keep you safe.”

  I gulped. There was no doubt that Indira could kill me—she was faster with her knives than I was with my magic at this point. I could only trust her, and I wanted to. “Thank you. I—”

  She shook her head. “Let’s focus on the task at hand and not speak about things that divide us right now.”

  I gave her a long look and nodded.

  Leo tugged on my pant leg, and I knelt down next to him.

  “You need to go now, Kate,” he said weakly. “Go and hide. Hide from our father. He thinks I’m bringing you to him, but I was never going to do that. I can feel his minions getting close. They will take you to him and he’ll make you use your power in ways you won’t like. Don’t let him find you. Please.”

  Anger and frustration welled up inside me. “I won’t leave you here to die, Leo. Get up.”

  “Look, I might not die here,” he said. “They’ll probably take me back and Dad will heal me just so he can jerk me around some more. It’s nothing I can’t handle.”

  “No!” I cried, clinging to his arm. “I just met you! I just met my brother!”

  “Sorry, little sister.” He lifted his finger to my cheek and let it drop. “Can’t boss me now.”

  Luna crooned. “Listen to the brother, there is nothing you can do here.”

  Leo’s eyes teared. “Indira, help her. Hide her. They’re coming.”

  Indira’s impossibly strong hand clamped down on my arm and jerked me to my feet. “Kate! We need to move now.”

  19

  I let Indira lead me away with thick tears streaming down my face. How could we leave Leo to die? Would his—my—father’s minions leave him to die, or would they torture him when they found out he let me go? I walked in a stiff-legged compliance to Indira’s tiny, quick steps through the deepening twilight as I tried to come to terms with the fact that the adults in my life tried so hard to protect me that they lied and risked their lives to do so. Crickets started up their deafening see-saw song in earnest, and then an owl screeched, momentarily silencing them. After a few beats, the bugs returned to their raucous symphony.

  Was I doing the right thing by leaving? The honorable thing in respecting Leo's wishes? As I tromped through the thick bed of pine needles layering the forest floor with Indira's hand clamped firmly on my bicep, I grew angry as I tallied the lies that had been told to me in the name of my safety.

  I was angry at Mom for lying to me about my father, if in fact she did. I was mad at Leo for lying to me about who he really was when we first met. Indira hadn’t lied to me, but at the moment I hated her for being so rigid and for her play-by-the-rules mentality. I was even angry at Gringo for leaving. My steps began to take on a definite stomp as I reveled in my anger.

  “There certainly is a lot going on in that mind of yours.” Luna’s voice in my head interrupted my indignation.

  “You can hear my thoughts too?” I thought at her furiously.

  “Well, yes, when you're thinking them so loud," she said.

  Indira yanked on my arm.

  I stumbled. “You don’t have to pull so hard. I’m coming!”

  She just glared at me and kept up her steady pace.

  We entered a thicket, and tiny branches whipped my face as we brushed past. I made several not-so-nice comments about her to Luna and reflected that it was a good thing Indira couldn’t hear this conversation.

  Luna didn’t respond.

  My shoulders slumped. “Going into hiding doesn't seem right. If Leo died to save me, then I think someone needs to answer for that.”

  “Who might that be?” Luna said.

  “My . . . father,” I said. It sounded really weird to say that.

  “From what I understand,” Luna said, “the man Leo claims is your father is not a nice man. Let’s make a list, shall we? He kidnapped your mother, presumably to see what you could do on your own in terms of magic. He didn't want anything to do with you before now. He set up Leo, his own son, to use up the last of his power, and put him in a position of mortal injury. Finally, you don't know what kind of power he has, and he seems to have a lot of minions around who can do all sorts of nasty things. I don't like the idea of you going to confront him.”

  “But Leo said that you're my amplifier,” I said. “You make my magic stronger. I’ve done some pretty impressive things so far. You might be able to give me the control I need.”

  “Maybe, or maybe we need to practice more,” Luna said. “This is my first time being a familiar.”

  “I don't really like the idea of my mom negotiating custody with my dad without my input,” I said. “Even in human courts today, the kid gets to say who they want to live with once they're able to talk, right?”

  “I have no idea,” Luna said. “I haven’t nested in the rafters of a human court.”

  “And he's got another think coming if he thinks I’ll go to spend any time with him,” I said. “Not to mention my mom has some explaining to do. I should have a say in this.”

  “That I can agree with,” Luna said. “Yeah!”

  “Yeah!” I said out loud.

  “Did you say something?” said Indira.

  “Yeah, I did,” I said. “Can we stop for a minute?”

  Her steps slowed and she looked back at me. “A very short minute.”

  We stopped in the middle of the thicket, and I held back a branch that wanted to stick in my eye. I let Indira in on my conversation with Luna and my thoughts about my right to own my own destiny.

  “So I want to go back. I want to find my father and my mother and confront them. I want answers. I think Leo would understand.” My eyes pleaded with her to understand too.

  Indira took a deep breath and looked off into the night. Finally, she looked back at me and pressed her lips together. “I cannot talk you out of this, can I?”

  I shook my head. “No.”

  “Good,” she said. “I was hoping you would come to your senses.”

  I made a face. “But you made me leave Leo!”

  “Yes, but I did not make you abandon your goal of getting your mom back,” she said. “I needed you to remember why we are here, Kate. To win, you must keep your eye on the prize. Focus.”

  I took a shaky breath. “You’re a scary teacher, Indira.”

  “Indubitably,” she said proudly.

  The word-of-the-day calendar had struck again.

  20

  We were still standing in the damp woods, surrounded by the sounds of night, when we heard a scuffle nearby.

  “Ow! Stop that! I’m coming!”

  “Rowwwrrrrlll!”

  “Gringo!” Luna said.

  “Gringo?” I said.

  “Is that your mother’s cat?” Indira said.

  “I think so?” I said.

  More sounds of scratching, cat growls, and human cries emerged through the brush in front of us. The night was so dark in the woods, I could barely make out the shapes of the cat and . . . a man.

  “Who does Gringo have with him, Luna?” I said.

  “Hang on,” she said. “It’s hard to hear what he’s saying through the fighting.”

  “Let’s fall back,” Indira said.

  “Yeah.” I moved back through the brush with her, the sound of ou
r maneuver covered by the chaos of the cat-versus-human fight.

  “I give up, I give up!” a male voice shouted. “Stop, please!”

  Indira and I exchanged puzzled looks.

  Luna rustled in my arms. “Hold on, Gringo is saying something . . . he says there’s a high fence around the property where your mother is being kept, and he has captured a human who knows the code to get through the gate.”

  “Gringo brought us a gift, Indira.” I laughed, grabbing her arm and pulling her forward. “Someone who can get us through the security gate where my mom is.”

  “Aw, how sweet!” Indira said.

  “Yeah,” I said, getting my first look at Gringo’s victim. He was skinny and slight of build, and his hair hung in his eyes in a floppy way I kind of liked in boys. He was dressed in a T-shirt, cargo shorts, and work boots. “Though I’m wondering now, if I knocked on the door, whether my demon dad would just let me in.”

  “Rrrrrowwl!” Gringo said.

  “Gringo is just now hearing this news, remember?” Luna said. “He didn’t know the demon was your father, Kate. He said that makes a lot of sense since he doesn’t like demons and never liked you.”

  “Thanks, Gringo,” I said, and I repeated Luna’s information aloud for Indira.

  “Yes, that was a surprise,” Indira grumbled. “But it will be good to have the element of surprise on our side when we approach. Speaking of, let’s get moving. I do not like standing around.”

  I took the lead and approached the captive, who was bleeding from dozens of scratches on his head and neck and legs. “What about you? Are you going to come with us peacefully, or are you going to be a problem?”

  “No problems from me, ma’am,” he said in a high voice.

  “What’s your name?” Indira stepped next to me.

  “John, ma’am.” He hugged his sides. “John Brun.”

  With all the ma’am-ing and the sound of his voice, he had to be young. Maybe closer to my age than Indira’s, and he didn’t realize it. That made me feel kind of special and mature. “How old are you?”

  “Eighteen, ma’am,” he said.

  I grinned at this information. I must’ve really projected maturity beyond my years . . . or maybe it was because I was out at night with Indira, who projected scary beyond her years.

  Indira shot me a look. “This demon hires children?”

  “Beg your pardon, ma’am, but I’m no kid,” John said. “I can vote and join the military.”

  “C’mon.” I glanced at the time on my phone. “Let’s get this show on the road. You can tell us all about your maturity on the way.”

  Gringo gave him a hearty swat on the knee that drew blood. John grumbled under his breath, but he and Gringo led our procession through the woods.

  Since we now had a person Indira could grill directly about my father’s house, rather than loose translations from Gringo through my familiar, she asked John careful questions about the location of the house (directly north of the campgrounds about ten miles, just east of the railroad), how many stories it was (two), and how many doors and windows there were (two doors in the front, one on the side, two in the back). She asked about outbuildings (one barn) and the road leading to the house (single lane, gravel, no other houses on it). Apparently my father had picked up the whole property for a song. I was sure there was something fishy and supernatural about that transaction.

  John volunteered that the entire property used to belong to a big-game ranch that inexplicably went bankrupt—which I noted was pretty surprising in Texas, where big-game hunting is very popular. He also talked about the ten-foot fence that kept high-jumping animals like Axis deer inside and people out. The gate to the lodge was separated by another fence to keep the humans protected from the animals before the hunt.

  “Wait, are there still animals in there?” I said.

  “Yes,” John said. “Mostly a ton of different kinds of game—deer, sheep, goats, and bison. He’s also got hogs and kangaroos. It’s the last two that are the real problem. Since no one is hunting in there anymore and he’s not feeding them, the animal populations aren’t managed, and things have gone a bit savage in there. Did you know that kangaroos will eat meat?”

  “Gross, no!” I said.

  He nodded. “Surprised the heck out of all of us.”

  “No!” Luna said. “Not kangaroos!”

  “When have you met a kangaroo?” I said.

  “I haven’t, but on TV, they’re really cute,” she said. “The Conroe community theatre house doubled as a kids’ summer camp and the TV was on a lot.”

  “Sure,” I said.

  “Only a monster would neglect to feed animals in his care,” Indira said. “But Gringo was smart to take the boy. There is no way we were going to get in there safely without the code.”

  “Yeah.” I pictured some kind of nature show gone wrong.

  “I’m not a boy!” John said.

  “Quiet, you,” Indira said. The tension in her voice held a restrained violence.

  John wisely fell silent.

  Our feet crunched on layers of decomposing pine needles and the occasional soggy twig that didn’t so much snap as crush under our steps. Here, the underbrush was lighter, and I knew we had reached an area where the forestry service had recently performed controlled burns. They did these around populated areas to reduce the amount of fuel buildup and the possibility of hotter wildfires in the summer months. All of that meant we were closer to houses and people. And my father?

  I mulled over our little group and why we were here, doing this crazy, possibly suicidal little trip. Aside from John, who was a captive, Luna was here all for me—we were linked as one for the foreseeable future. Indira wouldn’t let me go into danger alone, so I knew she was here for me too. These two made my heart feel full, and even though I knew Gringo was only doing this to get his witch—my mother—back, I was grateful for him too.

  “Hey, Gringo?” I said. “Thanks.”

  Gringo’s stride took on a pronounced strut, and he flicked his tail.

  We all fell into silence that I’m pretty sure was full of terrifying thoughts of death by ravenous kangaroos.

  21

  Our little group reached the base of a wide, man-made hill that was at least four or five Indiras high. I knew that because she scouted ahead and I watched her climb it, pause on her belly near the top to scope what was over the rise, and come back down.

  “We’re here.” She brushed dirt and pine needles from her pants and shirt. “It’s like Code Boy said, the best way in is through the gate. All other ways in are over the tall fence and through wildlife. The problem is, we have to cut over to the road and approach that way. In full view.”

  “And there are cameras,” John said. “And my name is John, not Code Boy.”

  Indira gave him another look that silenced him, though the fact that he was still sassing back to her made me like him a little bit more. Between his attitude and his hair . . .

  Indira also gave me a look as if she read my mind. “He’s only helping us because he has to, Kate.”

  I felt my face grow hot and was glad for the dim light. “I know that.” Geez.

  “If she hadn’t said it, I would have, Kate,” Luna said. “You trust way too easily.”

  “Okay, I get it!” I shouted. “Message received already. Can we just go?”

  Indira leveled her gaze at me. “There is no element of surprise here, Kate. They’re going to know we’re coming. They may already know, because we took Code Boy, and I doubt his absence has gone undetected. This is our last chance to change our mind and make a different plan, like going back home to wait for your mother.”

  “This is the plan. We stick to the plan. If I run away and hide now, then that demon gets to keep sending his minions after me. If Leo is . . . was right”—my voice caught at my correction—“my father wants me alive. That gives me some leverage, I think.”

  John gasped. “You’re her! You’re his daughter!”
<
br />   I shivered. It was becoming more real every second that I was about to see both my parents.

  “You shut up right now,” Indira snapped at him, then turned back to me. “It does give you leverage. But what is your goal? What do you want, Kate?”

  Her question took me off guard, and I had to think. What did I want? The answer didn’t take too long to form. It was so close to the surface, yet I hadn’t acknowledged it until now. “I want to be the one who decides about me. About my power. I want to be my own person.”

  “Who is that, Kate?” she said, her voice soft.

  I paused. “I don’t know yet, but it needs to be up to me.”

  “This I understand.” She gripped her knives and gestured toward the left. “The road is that way. We will follow you.”

  I scanned our group, took a deep breath, and struck out in the lead. “I’m doing the right thing, right, Luna?”

  “Kate, I’m old at being a pigeon, but new at being a familiar,” she said. “We’re walking into danger, but I don’t think we’re spoiled for choice, given your objective. It’s either this or go into hiding.”

  “I’m not hiding.” I straightened my back and lifted my chin. “Not anymore.”

  “Let’s do this, then!” Luna cried, rustling in my arms.

  I grinned and held her close. I wasn’t about to let her go flying around with owls hunting at night.

  We skirted the hill to the blacktop road and stepped on it. There were no other souls in sight as we traveled the half-mile or so to the gravel drive that led to the lodge gate. The previous owner’s name had been removed, somewhat violently, from the metal sign atop the big metal gate, so all that remained was a bunch of garbled decorative metal scraps and the words “Big Game.”

  “I’m good at games, Dad,” I said under my breath. “Let’s see what you’ve got.”