Through the dance hall window in which Kelly’s head was framed, dark clouds were racing to gather. It was a strange sight; there had been no such clouds when we started the meeting. Then I looked at Jackie, who was watching our friend with concern. I knew what she was thinking: crossing Hannah was a terrible idea. The Carlisle witch loved to make others pay.
Taylor stood up. In high heels and a black leather pencil skirt, she waddled toward Kelly.
“Sit down!” she commanded. It sounded more like a whine than an order.
“Oh, be quiet!” Kelly scoffed.
Taylor paled. She clearly had not expected that response. “How dare you!”
“I dare! We’re all witches here! You aren’t any better than I am! I work hard! I deserve to be heard, and if I’m worried about my brother’s well-being you, had better listen.” Kelly swiped angrily at the tears streaming down her face.
I felt guilty. If we had solved the case by now she might not have had to do this.
“Excuse me, but these meetings have a purpose, and it isn’t personal! Did you make any progress with the swamp?” Hannah demanded angrily. She looked at me and read the answer on my face. “No, you didn’t. I said there was toxic material in there!” she cried.
“We were told that we weren’t allowed in,” I said. My voice sounded pathetic and I cursed myself.
Hannah looked furious. Her curls were swinging around her face and she was leaning forward as if she wanted to fly across the room and attack me.
“On whose authority?” she demanded.
“The sheriff’s,” cried Kelly. “As if he didn’t have enough to do, he also saved us from Sammy.”
A wave of murmurs and gasps went around the circle. It took me a minute to realize that Kelly was talking about the monster.
“I thought you’d be more than able to deal with a little thing like a slug,” Hannah retorted.
“He’s over twenty feet long now,” said Jackie.
Even Hannah appeared to pale at that news. Sammy must have grown since the last time she saw him. Sometimes that happens.
“I will have order at these meetings. We cannot waste any more time.” Hannah shook her head and tried to continue.
Kelly still wasn’t having it. “Not until we talk about my brother!”
A murmur of agreement went up around the room. Kelly wasn’t the only one who wanted to deal with the problems facing Twinkleford instead of hiding them under the rug.
“What about your brother?” Hannah demanded.
“He’s unconscious. They’re trying one spell after another to wake him up. It will probably take weeks,” she said.
“I heard that was because he was dealing on the black market. He shouldn’t have been doing that, and you know it as well as I do. If he had stuck to farming, none of this would have happened,” said Hannah.
That created an uproar. She had essentially just said that Henry would still be here and that it was his own fault he was dead, and not the Vixens’.
We were now in disarray. Someone threw a shoe at Hannah, forcing her to duck. The room descended into chaos and yelling. Kelly appeared to think she’d gotten her point across and merely stood there smiling.
Then a crack split the air, forcing us to be silent. The sound of a yell outside was our only warning before the windows went black.
Chapter Thirty-One
My heart was hammering so hard I was afraid it would drown out anything I tried to say. “What happened?” I asked Jackie.
She shook her head. Her eyes were wide and staring as she looked toward the window. A cold air circled around me where moments before I’d been warm. The other witches were turning from side to side. None of us could figure out what had just happened. I could barely see Kelly on my other side, but I could tell that her face had paled.
“Vixens,” she whispered.
“What would they be doing here?” I whispered back.
She shook her head. “I have no idea. You’d think they’d leave us alone. Kyle is at the hospital, after all, not here.”
“You’d think,” murmured Jackie.
Hannah glanced at the window and bit her lip.
“You have to tell us what to do. Either we’re following you or not,” Jackie told her.
At her words Hannah straightened and cried, “Man the defenses! Two on either side of the door! Another at the windows. Be ready for anything!”
Taylor started pointing, making a show of enforcing Hannah’s orders. There were enough witches that I didn’t have to move, but that made Hannah’s eyes skate back to me.
“Well, Rhinestone, are you going to do something useful, or just stand there while the dance hall is torn down around our ears?” she said.
Suddenly, the windows started shifting. Like, the panes of glass literally moved. In the place where the windows had been there was just blank wall. The witches who had gone to guard the windows were left to scramble to new posts, bumping into each other and knocking each other down as they tried to rearrange themselves.
I looked toward the bright red doors and was shocked to see them literally melting into the floor, so that they seemed likely to end up under our feet. In the place of the doors was simply wall. I swallowed hard. The four witches who had gone to guard the doors exchanged confused glances. They had no idea what to do.
A clanging sound filled the air and everyone was panicking.
The entire composition of the dance hall was shifting, as if it were melting from within.
When the boards under our feet suddenly moved, Kelly yelled, “What now?”
Hannah, our fearless leader, stood frozen, her mouth slightly open as she stared at the place where the red doors used to be.
“We have to run!” I cried. If no one else was going to say it, then I would.
The dance hall had a cafeteria downstairs and offices upstairs. “Half go up and half go down,” I yelled. “We have to abandon the dance hall! We’ve already lost it!”
I half expected Taylor and Hannah to argue, but they were so shell-shocked, they didn’t even respond.
Some of the witches raced for the staircase that led to the second floor, but I had no interest in going back up there. My foray into the murdered Jonathan Quickgrace’s office, and my long-term borrowing of the pearls I’d found there, left me reluctant to go back. For me, downstairs was the next step.
I held my breath as I led the way in the race for the stairs. When I glanced back, the windows, the doors, and some of the loosened floor boards had started after us.
“Are we under attack by building parts?” I gasped. This was like a house builder’s nightmare.
“I don’t know,” Kelly cried. “Kind of looks that way.”
“Hurry up!” Taylor yelled, shoving her way past me. Once she and Hannah were in the lead, they nearly flew down the dark staircase, with no concern at all for what might happen to the rest of us. Even worse, wearing high heels made them slower than we were. When Taylor stopped halfway down and kicked her heels off, Hannah hesitated for a moment.
For the first time in their friendship, Taylor got sharp with Hannah. “There’s no time! We can come back for the shoes.”
Hannah kicked her shoes off, but instead of hurrying onward she seemed transfixed, staring sadly at the shoes sitting alone and overturned in the corner of the staircase.
“Let’s go,” cried Jackie, shoving her way to the front before Taylor could do anything about it.
Then we were all running again, pelting down the stairs into the deserted cafeteria.
“Where do you think the cooks went?” I whispered.
The cafeteria was dark. The only light showing us the way was a green sign that read, “Food here. Eat well and cleanly. If chips count.”
I remembered the sign from when I’d eaten there during my classes.
A blinding flash made us all stumble. I felt heat hit my back.
“At least the spells haven’t made it down here yet,” Jackie breathed. “Let’s ge
t our defenses going. Kelly?”
My friend was having a hard time breathing, still too shocked by what was happening to gather her wits.
“I’ll do it,” I said. The one time my crackle spellcasting had worked, it had felt like perfection. Hopefully I could do it again.
“You expect us to trust you?” gasped Taylor, oblivious to the streak of soot that ran down her pretty white blouse.
I glared at her. “I don’t really care what you do.”
With that I spun around on my heel. Time was of the essence. There was none to waste on idiots.
The kitchen covered an entire wall of the basement, with a counter and one high window. Behind the counter were shelves upon shelves of pots, pans, and other utensils. That would mean a big spell, but big was exactly what I needed.
I took a deep breath, listening to the sound of tables overturning behind me. The first bang as the side of a table hit the floor took me by surprise. The second and third were expected. Defenses were at the ready.
Five straight fingers together, twist, and open my fingers.
Nothing happened.
“That didn’t work,” said Hannah’s dry and annoyed voice behind me.
I tried again but still nothing.
For a moment there was a pause, then I felt a prickle down the back of my neck. The upstairs had gone quiet. I forced my breathing to quiet, the better to listen for the tiniest sound.
There was still nothing from above, no screams, no cries. Then I heard the click of a footstep, and the next instant something brushed against my arm. I turned to see Hannah and Taylor standing still, almost frozen, each looking disheveled in her own way.
“Much better if we make a ritual out of it,” said Taylor quietly.
The three of us joined hands. Just like during the earlier ritual, the witch connection was strong. Eventually I’d have to get over the realization that I had a close connection with Hannah, but now was not the time. Chocolate would be involved in my healing process and recovery, but that would come later.
The three of us closed our hands. Hannah started to hum, a sound that came from deep in her diaphragm, a clear, strong noise. In spite of myself I felt comforted by the sound.
We let go of each other’s hands at the same moment.
My fingers came together and I twisted my wrist.
The motion felt perfect.
The next instant I heard a clang.
The pots in front of us were glowing, the gray of each pan turning molten.
Every utensil in the place flew forward.
They were ready to go.
“Cool. Glad that spellcast worked. Now can we get somewhere safe?” Taylor’s sharp voice cut into my thoughts.
“I couldn’t agree more,” I muttered.
The three of us hurried to hide behind one of the tables just as more clicks sounded from upstairs.
Several Vixens were in the dance hall.
They were looking for us.
Chapter Thirty-Two
“Maybe they’ll just go away,” whispered one of the witches who was crouched with us.
“Don’t be naive,” whispered Taylor. Her face was pale and bright in the dim light, the whites of her eyes almost glowing. She was utterly terrified.
“All right, okay, we can do this,” whispered Hannah. She was having trouble crouching because of how tight her clothing was.
“The Vixens . . .” We never found out what she’d been about to say, because a crash interrupted her. Something had been forcefully thrown against the doors that led from the dance hall to the lower level. We felt the floor shake and came closer together.
The next instant the door at the top of the stairs opened and a click reverberated down the stairwell.
The Vixens were coming for us.
A sharp elbow to my ribs made pain blossom along my side. I leaned to that side and glared at Jackie.
“You have to breathe. It’s the first step,” she whispered. I knew she had a point, so I forced myself to take a deep breath and glanced at the ritual. It was good to go. The pots were still waiting for whatever unfortunate Vixen came down the stairs first.
So far it sounded like there was only one.
She must think that either no one was down here, or we were a joke.
As she came nearer, a mist floated along the steps and started curling into the room. A soft hiss like the dissipation of air quickly followed, and I went from hot nerves to cold fear.
Suddenly there came a sound of running footsteps from above. Someone was racing confidently across the dance hall floor.
For a split second the clicking on the stairs paused, then it resumed.
“What is that noise?” Taylor whispered.
“Vixens,” I said before anyone else could answer.
“I thought they were stylish. Such pointed heels aren’t in right now,” Taylor whispered urgently to Hannah. Taylor thought she’d discovered a real clue about the identity of the attacker. For once Hannah glared at her to be quiet.
“Now?” I asked Hannah.
The clicking had resumed. At any moment, the Vixen who was looking for us would come into view.
Hannah waited one more breath, then the Vixen came around the turn.
She was dressed all in black. Her cape was black. Her boots were black, as was the almost slinky dress. She was also wearing a mask.
Around us the cafeteria started to shift. Pieces of the building that shouldn’t melt sank to the floor. The nails in the walls started to fall, looking like gray rain.
The Vixen halted. Focused on the overturned tables, she hadn’t noticed the pots and pans waiting to hail down fury on her head.
Then she did.
“Now!” Hannah cried. For the first time since I had met the difficult Carlisle, I saw a reason to respect her. Taylor and I joined her and the utensils went flying toward the Vixen.
Just in the nick of time, the black-robed figure fell back toward the stairwell, then tripped and landed with a hard thud. Without thinking, I stood up and started to chase her, but a hand on my arm held me back.
I glared at Jackie, who glared back. “That melting spell could kill you,” she said.
I glanced at the floor in front of me and saw nails planted firmly at my feet, sticking upward. A dangerous metal field stood between me and the escaping Vixen.
We all waited as the clicking sound raced back up the stairs. More noises of battle came from above. The tap-tap of running shoes increased in speed. On top of that, there was a rush of from overhead.
Like the accomplished criminal that she was, the Vixen had gotten away.
Just as the excitement seemed to die down, something came flying at us. A dark form headed straight for the table where we all crouched. I ducked just in time as the dark shape went flying past our heads. All of us turned to look at it thud against the far wall.
It appeared to be an old suitcase, which flopped open as it landed. There was nothing inside it, and the sad piece of luggage just sat there, nearly coming apart from the force with which it had hit the wall. Had it hit one of us instead, it might have done real damage.
“Must have been stored here and they just used it as a cannonball,” whispered one of the witches next to me.
Breathing hard, none of us moved for several moments.
Meanwhile, as the Vixen retreated, the floor was cleared of nails.
“Let’s go!” I yelled, and darted across the floor without waiting to see if anyone would follow. Hannah didn’t have time to stop me. She didn’t bother trying. The next instant I was barreling up the stairs, ignoring the acrid smell that filled the stairwell. At the top of the stairs I pelted around the corner and found chaos.
The dark cloud that had come after Lowe and me in the hospital was filling the dance hall. Vixen Steam was dangerous, and here it was again.
I didn’t want to call the Vixens a one-trick pony, but . . .
Whoever had been here before was gone. There was no sign of Vixens and no sig
n of anyone wearing shoes, either.
Someone slammed into my back and I nearly fell over.
“Sorry,” Kelly breathed, looking furious. Her eyes were blinking furiously behind her glasses. “We can’t let them get away!”
I couldn’t have agreed with her more, but what options did we have?
I glanced around. The door to the upstairs was open.
Now that we had a moment, I could hear the thudding of footsteps from above.
“Let’s go,” I said, sprinting forward.
We raced for the stairs, directly toward the sounds of battle coming from above. We heard a few yells and a scream as we darted up the stairs.
At the top I nearly bumped into Quinn Merchant, who was standing with his back to us and glaring at a Vixen. Between the two of them was a vicious-looking black lizard. The creature’s eyes were bright yellow, with blue slits in the center. As we watched, the lizard’s tongue flashed out, black with yellow spots. He looked as if he’d gotten in a fight with a highlighter and lost.
“Quinn?” I breathed.
The sheriff didn’t move.
Beyond the lizard was a Vixen. She dressed like the one who had come looking for us, but I couldn’t tell if it was the same one or not.
Kelly moved to stand next to me, looking straight ahead and not blinking.
“What’s going on?” I whispered.
“The Vixen doesn’t want to face off against Quinn. She has no idea what a half-mermaid might have up his sleeve, but I promise you, she doesn’t want to find out.”
Suddenly they were all moving at once. An explosion of cold seeped through the walls and ceiling. The floor started to feel unsure.
Then it collapsed.
Chapter Thirty-Three
We fell through the floor as it gave way entirely. In a crash of water, I was suddenly soaking wet. Whatever Quinn had done, it had worked. The Vixen Steam was cut in two by the crash.
My ears were ringing and my teeth were chattering. I couldn’t see a thing in the cloud of bluish-gray water and mist. When I tried to breathe, I choked on the thick air. Kelly rolled onto her back and coughed.
The Rhinestone Witches Omnibus: Books 1-3 Page 44