I was three feet from her when she pulled her wings in and rolled to the left. She disappeared between the trees. I swung around the base of a tree and raced after her with my arm outstretched. Her translucent pink wings brushed over my fingertips like mist. I tried to grab hold, but they didn’t appear to be solid in form. She crossed over the pathway of human tourists completely unseen, like she had some type of glamour to hide her.
For years I’d lectured and chastised my fellow Cards for reckless behavior around Sapiens. I told them to not use their magic in the open. I told them not to endanger the humans in any way. I was about to become a hypocrite. If she got into the main part of the park, I’d lose her, and I didn’t know when or if I’d find her again. Now that she definitely knew we were after her, would she finally return to her realm? I couldn’t risk it. She’d stolen the tool we needed. Without it, our quest couldn’t be completed. Something told me this quest coinciding with the twins’ arrival wasn’t a coincidence. We’d need this tool to close the Gap.
Desperate times, desperate measures. I said a silent prayer to the Goddess to protect the Sapiens and then unleashed my power into the ground. The pathway trembled, and humans dropped to the floor. A hundred screaming voices pierced my ears. Bricks popped loose of the pathway, and without hesitating, I summoned enough wind to turn them into projectiles aimed right at my little fairy friend. She squealed and dodged a few, but one caught her in the gut and knocked her to the ground. I jumped over the rail and skipped over the scrambling humans, but she was too fast. She shook her wings once then flew right through an open door and inside one of the attractions.
I cursed and slid to a stop… Wait. I glanced up to the sign and sighed. The Haunted Palace. There was only one place in the entire theme park where magic could be hidden…perhaps my luck had just improved.
I dropped the earthquake and sprinted through the front doors of the ride. People lined the hallways, waiting patiently for their turn. I heard them yell out in protest while I ran by, skipping the line without hesitation. The fairy didn’t look back once inside. She zipped right through like she hung out there often and slipped past the ride attendants. Not a single person noticed her disappear around the corner except me.
I jumped over the queue and ran up the exit lane to where the attendants loaded tourists into their designated buggy. An elderly couple took their time moving up to their buggy, leaving three empty ones up ahead. I sprinted forward and slid into one of the empty, clamshell-like buggies. The ride jerked into motion, and the bar lowered closer to my lap.
The ride took the cars on a journey through a haunted estate where ghosts jumped out and tried to scare people. After dealing with real evil spirits, the holographic ones were a picnic. The ride moved through a dimly lit hallway where doors lined each side. Each wooden doorframe was enhanced with a spooky effect.
An icy chill brushed over my back. I looked left and right, up and down, and then repeated the process. Every flash of light caught my attention. The ride crawled around a dark corner before stopping completely.
“Attention guests, please remain in your ghost buggy.”
“Fat chance,” I mumbled to myself.
The room was only lit by a black light. In the center, a crystal ball glistened with swirling colors while neon-painted objects floated above my head. Before the ride started moving again, I slid out of my buggy and onto solid ground. I closed my eyes and listened. Fake musical instruments chimed, a woman’s voice echoed all around me, and something clapped softly.
Wait… I wonder. I bounced to the balls of my feet, ready to take off, then I summoned the cold air from the air conditioner and pushed it through the room. The clapping noise got louder and faster, almost frantic. I blocked out all the other noises and focused on the flapping. It was up in the corner to my left. I moved closer until it sounded right above me, and I crouched down, still on the balls of my feet. The ride screeched behind me and immediately began moving through the room. I held my left palm up and willed my arm to light up, then slammed the glow up to the ceiling.
My little fairy friend shrieked and took off. This time I was ready and chased her out of the dark room, hot on her heels. Her wings fluttered so fast all I saw were the fiery red strands of her hair flying in the air. I dodged tourist-filled buggies and leapt over props while racing after her. I chased her through the Grand Parlor room full of holographic dancing ghosts, but when we turned the corner, she hit the sheer net they projected ghosts onto and dropped to the ground…right in the middle of the mock cemetery.
I moved toward where she fell when a ghost popped up in front of my face. I jumped to the left and met another one. I took a step to the right except this time the hologram followed me. Relax, Tennessee. It’s just a special effect. The fairy scrambled to her feet, but when I tried to get closer, the ghost grabbed my arm and pulled. I gasped and spun around. Its grip stung like ice against my skin. Oh hell… Here? This wasn’t a hologram; it was a real ghost and one pissed off enough to come out in the middle of the day and approach me. They weren’t supposed to be inside the ride at all.
“What are you doing in here?” I asked the ghost while my brain tried to catch up.
Part of me wondered what Kessler would say about this. The other part of me belatedly realized none of the ghosts in the cemetery room were holographic. All of them glowered at me. I reached to my hip for my sword and remembered I’d left it at home, because the Sapiens would’ve been weirded out by it. My next few moves had to be done fast. I stretched my right hand out wide without moving my arm and called for the dagger tucked inside my boot. The second the handle hit my palm, a calming power tingled up my arm, and I slashed my weapon through the ghost holding me.
In a flash, two dozen ghosts swarmed with their icy hands outstretched. They couldn’t physically harm the Sapiens, but the Goddess’s blood in my veins made them capable of killing a witch.
Yeah, well, not today psycho. I waited until they were a foot in front of me and then jumped straight up in the air and flipped over backwards. As I landed, I brought my dagger down in an arch and sliced through them in a blur of light. I spun, ducked, and slashed in a line. Styrofoam gravestones wavered as I jumped over them like a track star. Another horde of ghosts popped up in my path. I slid, dragging my dagger through as many as I could. When I fell to my knees, I summoned all of my energy and then pushed it out in one massive sonic boom. All of the ghosts disintegrated in an instant.
The lights in the ride flickered twice before drenching the humans in darkness. Screams and shrieks of terror filled the fake cemetery, their buggies locked in place. But I couldn’t waste any time on them. I had to find my fairy friend. I tucked my dagger back into my boot and moved through the plastic props and projection screens by the light coming off my skin. Despite the chaos from the humans, I picked up on one sound that wasn’t like the others. It was high-pitched, but soft…and it was crying.
I followed the whimper into the back corner of the room. It took me a second to spot her huddled inside a Styrofoam mausoleum. She had her arms wrapped tightly around her knees, and her wings draped her like cocoon. I froze in my tracks, completely caught off guard by the sight. For the first time in minutes, I felt the pounding of my heart in my chest as my body tried to calm itself.
I crept closer to her hiding spot, crouched in a low squat so I wouldn’t scare her. Up close, with the light coming off my body, her skin was pale and covered in goose bumps. What now? I hadn’t expected her to be scared of me, or anything. I tried to use my softest voice. “Hey there.”
She jumped and scurried farther into the corner. “No, no, no. No. Go.”
I raised my palms in the air in surrender. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
“I’m always hurt,” she said with a trembling voice that sounded like wind chimes.
Be charming. That’s what Cassandra told me. “You don’t cause any trouble.”
She shook her head and sobbed. “Please, no trouble. Don’t chase m
e. Scare me.”
“I didn’t mean to scare you. I only chased you because you have something I need.”
Her eyes widened, and I noticed for the first time they were a bright lavender. “I don’t have anything at all!” she wailed.
Okay, I needed a new angle. Be charming. I took a deep breath. “Hey, hey, it’s okay. What’s your name?”
She looked up at me and sniffed. “Saffie.”
I smiled. “I’m Tennessee. It’s nice to meet you.”
Tears of shimmering silver streaked down her angled cheeks. “You nice to me? No one is nice to Saffie. I have no friends.”
My heart sank, and for more than one reason. For one, I was prepared to kill this little fairy in order to get the tool. I hadn’t considered a different option. The other Cards wouldn’t have hesitated either. But also…how many times in all these years had I seen her and completely ignored her?
“Well, we can be friends,” I said.
“Really?” Her eyes lit up for a second before she sank back into suspicion. “What do you want from me to be your friend?”
For some strange reason, a surge of protectiveness soared through me. Who had hurt her and why? Now more than ever, I wanted to know why she was here, but it wasn’t the time for that.
I shook my head. “Real friendship doesn’t cost anything.”
“You promise?”
“How do you make promises in your realm?”
“You can’t break that.” She stared at me for a long minute or two, and I knew she was trying to decide whether or not to trust me. Finally, she crawled to the edge and held up her little hand with her pinky finger out. “Like this…”
Pinky promise? Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew this might be a horrible, dangerous idea, but I ignored it. I held my pinky out to hers and stopped myself from jumping when her cold finger wrapped around mine. Her skin was softer than silk.
“I promise…?” I started.
“On a bed of rose thorns.”
Yeah, might be bad indeed. Too late to back out. “I promise on a bed of rose thorns we are friends, Saffie.”
“I promise on a sea of spider lilies we are friends…Tennessee.” She looked up at me with the biggest smile I’d ever seen, and it made me feel a little better about the oath I’d just made. “Now, friend, tell me why you’re chasing me? Please?”
I swallowed down my unease. “Well, the other night the demon threw something into the Gap, but I saw you catch it. Problem is, I need that object.”
She frowned. “What for?”
“To help us close the Gaps forever.”
“Like it used to be?”
How old are you, Saffie? ‘It used to be’ meant prior to Salem 1692. She’d have to be over three hundred years old to remember. One day soon I would have to figure her out.
I nodded. “Yes, like before Salem.”
She nodded and reached down into the little dress she had on. “You mean this?”
The object she held out was small, maybe an inch long and shimmery, but without proper lighting, I couldn’t tell. I knew it was the object the demon threw though.
“Yes,” I said.
“It’s pretty.” She sighed and looked down at the object in her palm. “You want me to give it to you?”
“I really need it to save people.”
“It keeps Saffie safe. It scares monsters away. I’m always so scared until I found this.”
Note to self: talk to Cassandra about fairies and Saffie. “What if I gave you something else to keep you safe and scare away monsters?”
She sat up straight and nodded. “Please? I don’t like being scared.”
“Yeah, of course.” A crazy idea popped into my head, one I might regret later. Then again, I might be thankful later too.
When I’d first moved in with Kessler he made me a ring entirely out of white quartz. He’d said the stone had calming powers, and it tricked demons and evil spirits into thinking the wearer was a human.
I reached down to my left pinky finger, the only one it still fit, and slid it off. “This is a…”
“Stardust quartz ring!” She squealed and snatched it out of my palm. Her face split into a wide grin, her lavender eyes sparkling. “Thank you, my friend, Tennessee!”
“You know what it is?”
She nodded and slid the ring onto her thumb. The quartz warped and shifted to fit her finger. “It has fairy magic. Thank you. I will be not scared now.”
I smiled. “You’re welcome.”
“Here, you can save people now.” She held her hand out and dropped the stolen item into my palm. “Next time you see me, you can say hi, not chase me. Okay?”
I chuckled. “Deal. Thank you, Saffie. I have to bring this to my father now, but will you be okay here?”
She beamed up at me. “I have hiding spots everywhere. Yes.”
I nodded and stood to my full height, gripping the tool in my hand. The second it hit my skin, I knew what it was, without having to see it. You gotta call Kessler. “See you later, Saffie.”
“Bye bye, Tennessee!” In the blink of an eye, she was gone.
I stood there for a second shaking my head at what had transpired until it hit me. I have the tool. I did it.
Then reality crashed back around me. The ride was still broken down, in the dark with people freaking out. I raced across the cemetery to where an emergency exit was tucked into the back corner, and then slipped out. The sunlight stung my eyes and the heat choked me. But I had the tool.
I pulled my phone out and dialed Kessler. “Emergency meeting now. I have the tool… It’s a pendulum.”
Chapter Five
Twenty-five minutes later, I walked through the front door of my ranch style house and found my entire crew piled on the two tan leather couches in my living room, staring at the foyer. I frowned and looked around. They were literally piled on top of each other. Some of the smaller girls sat on top of others’ laps. Peabo and Atley were perched on the back of one sofa. Cooper half cheeked it on one armrest. Kessler sat on the edge of one sofa, with Cassandra squeezed in next to him beside Easton. Even Braison’s dog Albert was curled up under his owner’s legs on the carpet. Part of me wondered why no one had at least brought in a chair from the dining room ten feet away or a stool from the kitchen counter two feet away.
I took a moment to compose myself, to sound calm and confident and not in the least bit concerned. Thirteen Cards and two warriors-in-training sat in silence…waiting. The hectic energy in the room sizzled my senses and made the hairs on my arms stand straight up. They were nervous, anxious, and a little bit excited. With every step I took into the room, they sat up straighter and their eyes sharpened.
Kessler stood and waved me forward. “Let’s get right to it. Son, show everyone, please.”
The crystal warmed in my palm, like it knew it was being spoken about. I hadn’t put it down once since Saffie gave it to me, not even into my pocket. During the entire walk out of the park and drive home, the tool was wrapped tightly in my grip. I’d peeked at it a few times, unable to stop myself. The crystal shimmered a soft blueish-purple, but in the sunlight, it morphed into a rosy pink. I might’ve missed a few green lights from staring at it. I took a deep breath and uncurled my fingers, revealing a blueish crystal in the center of my palm.
“It really is a pendulum…” Cassandra whispered. Her emerald green eyes were wide and her mouth hung open. She held her red-freckled hand out, and her blue nail polish was chipped, like she’d started biting her nails again. “May I?”
I stepped forward and lowered my palm for her to take it. Her pale fingers were a stark contrast to my tan skin. Everyone else leaned forward to watch and gauge her reaction. She scooched to the edge of the couch and held the crystal up to her face. I shifted my weight around, waiting for her to relieve me and take over control of this situation. She had to have the answers; she always did. Fifteen pairs of eyes on me made me twitch, but Cassandra didn’t seem to notice.
&
nbsp; “I don’t get it,” Easton said and leaned over Cassandra’s left shoulder to look. His trademark wild grin was nowhere in sight. Even his light blue eyes looked a little darker. He scratched the blond scruff on his jaw. A serious Easton would take some getting used to. “How is a pendulum going to help us?”
“I’m not sure,” I admitted.
The central air conditioner kicked on, and a cold breeze brushed over my back. The sweat on my spine made my T-shirt cling to my skin. I rolled my neck and tried to release the tension in my muscles. This was only one piece of the quest, so I couldn’t let myself get too excited or relieved. I looked to Cassandra, waiting along with everyone else.
Royce slid Willow off his lap and jumped over to the empty seat next to Cassandra. He leaned over her shoulder and frowned. “Henley has like a thousand pendulums hanging in her room. Why did we need this one?”
I looked over and smiled at the sight of her dark attire in front of the white wall. The only part of Henley not covered in something black were her porcelain face and hands. Even her lips were painted black today.
She scoffed. “When did we start questioning the Goddess?”
“I question everything.” The tan leather couch creaked as Libby leaned around Chutney and winked in Henley’s direction.
Cooper walked over and crouched in front of Easton to look at the crystal hanging from a dark gold chain. “How did you get it from the fairy?”
All at once, questions fired at me one after another about the fairy. I wasn’t even sure who asked which.
“Yeah, did you kill her?”
“I bet she’s mean.”
“How much of a fight did she put up?”
“Did she have any other information?”
I bit my lip and hesitated to answer. Telling them the whole truth felt like stripping down naked in front of them and doing the funky chicken. Although, I didn’t know why it made me so vulnerable. I’d made an unexpected friend… No big deal. Right? I couldn’t lie and say I’d killed her for obvious reasons, but did I admit she was actually nice and just scared? That seemed like a betrayal of her trust. I didn’t even want to tell them her name.
The Chosen Witch Page 5