by M. J. Caan
“What is it?” asked Torie, clearly on edge now.
“Did you see anyone else?” asked her mother.
“No. I mean, I don’t think so.”
Fionna and Glen looked at one another, clearly worried about something. Torie felt like the outsider looking in, which of course she was at this point, but she also felt like there was something going on that she clearly needed to know about.
“What is it?” she asked everyone in the room.
Glen took a deep breath. “You didn’t hit Eddie with your car. This was a deliberate attack on him.”
“How do you know?” said Torie.
“Because I can feel the wound,” said Fionna. She stretched out a hand, letting it hover a few inches over Eddie’s feline body. “Here, in his side. He was stabbed; with a magical instrument.”
Fionna walked around to Torie, placing a hand on her arm. “Someone…something, attacked Eddie. Tried to kill him.”
Torie’s mind was swimming. “Why would someone do that?”
“The shifters in Singing Falls are being hunted and murdered,” said Torie’s mother, her voice sounded strained and tired. “We don’t know by who or why.”
“We think it’s a supernatural serial killer,” said Fionna.
Torie wasn’t sure how to respond. Her first instinct was to laugh, but she kept that in check. She really needed a big glass of wine. Maybe she was dreaming. Had she hit her head on the steering wheel? Was she still in her car unconscious? She wrapped her arms around her body and gave herself a squeeze.
No. She felt real; just trapped in an unreal place at the moment. That would explain the fact that she was sure she saw a man…No. She shook her head. She was sleep deprived; none of this was happening.
“Mom, I don’t know what is going on here, but—”
“Oh, we don’t have time for this,” said her mother. “Fionna?”
Torie turned to face Fionna, just in time to see the taller woman suddenly shrink; her form twisting and transforming in the blink of an eye. Where just a second before a grown woman had stood, in her place was a small, silver squirrel. The squirrel sat up on her hind legs before once again twisting and growing back into her human form.
Torie stared at her, then at Glen, and finally her mother. She raised a hand lazily to point at Fionna, but before she could find her words, darkness crowded in and she collapsed onto the cool, wood floor.
She awoke on the couch, relishing the feel of a cold compress on her forehead. Her head felt full of cobwebs, like she had succumbed to one too many glasses of cheap red wine. She sat up gingerly, sorting out her surroundings and the voices she was hearing.
“Take it easy,” said Fionna. She was sitting on the coffee table next to the couch Torie sat on. “I think you might have smacked your head when you fainted.” She reached out to touch her, and Torie jerked back as if she were about to be scalded. Fionna smiled, masking the hurt she felt, and withdrew her hand.
“What…what are you?” Torie asked.
“A shifter. Squirrel shifter. I’m sorry you had to find out that way, but your mother was right. With Ellie on her way, we wouldn’t have been able to take the time to explain things to you and provide Ellie whatever help she may have needed with Eddie.” Fionna stood, offering her hand to Torie to assist her in getting to her feet. “Besides, it was only a matter of time before you found out everything anyway.”
Torie stood, thankful for the other woman’s support as she was a little shaky on her feet. Before she could ask Fionna what she meant by that, she heard multiple voices coming from the workroom.
“Who’s that?” she asked.
“Come on,” said Fionna. “That’s Ellie, the vet. She arrived just after you passed out.”
Torie followed her through the kitchen and back into the room that her mother had been using as a makeshift art studio and had now been transformed into an animal clinic.
“Aw, there she is,” said Glen. “You feeling okay?”
Torie nodded, pressing the compress she still held against the back of her head. She nodded to the new person in the room.
“Ellie?” she said, extending a hand, “I’m Torie, Alva’s daughter.”
“Yes, I know who you are. Word spreads fast. Nice to meet you, Torie,” said Ellie. Torie frowned. It was a strange feeling; meeting someone that seemed to already know who you were.
“Uh, how’s Eddie?” Torie asked.
The veterinarian frowned, turning her attention to the black cat on the table. He seemed to be sleeping, his breathing far more regular than the last time Torie had looked at him. One of his paws was wrapped in a white bandage with a tiny tube peeking out that was connected to an IV bag hanging from a hook on the wall behind the table head.
“He’s stable,” Ellie said. “It’s going to be touch and go for a while. Of course, if it weren’t for you he would be dead by now. Thank you for bringing him in.”
Torie nodded. She wasn’t used to being thanked for doing what any decent person should have done. She took the moment to study Ellie. While Torie had no preconceived idea of what a veterinarian should look like, she was pretty sure it wasn’t this. Ellie was short, and to use something she once heard Shawn say, stacked. Torie could not have guessed her age; she had black hair that was streaked with silver highlights, hazel eyes, and skin that was weathered from a lifetime spent in the sun.
But her energy was unmistakable. She practically hummed with pent-up energy. Her speech patterns were just a tad too fast, and she buzzed from place to place. Even when she was standing still, her hands were in motion, fingers curling and uncurling. She smiled at Torie in a genuine, accepting kind of way; another thing Torie wasn’t used to coming from the suburbs of New York City.
“So, what now? Should we take him to a hospital?” Torie asked.
Ellie shook her head. “They wouldn’t know what to do with him. No, he’s better off here, at least until he’s stable enough to shift back to his human form.”
“The way Fionna did? Why can’t he just turn human and then you can take him to the hospital?”
“Because he was stabbed in his human form. The attacker used a blade that was coated in something that we have yet to identify. Something that is lethal to shifters. The blade pierced his skin but not deep enough to hit an artery or internal organ. He must have fought the attacker off and ran away.”
“He made it to the main road, which was where you found him,” said Alva.
Ellie nodded. “And like I said, that’s a good thing. He must have been passing out and instinctively shifted into his feline form. It’s what’s keeping him alive.”
“How is that keeping him alive?” Torie asked.
“Our animal forms are far more resilient than our human ones,” said Fionna. “Like most of nature, we aren’t quite as susceptible to the kinds of things that humans are.”
“Like whatever poison was used on this blade,” said Ellie. “The other victims all died before they could shift into animal form. But for some reason, Eddie was able to get away and shift.”
There was a black bag sitting on the table next to Eddie, and Torie watched as the veterinarian walked over to it and retrieved a syringe. She then inserted it into the catheter tip of the cat’s IV and withdrew a sample of blood.
Holding it up to the light, she studied it closely. “This is also the first chance we’ve had to get a blood sample of the toxin. Usually it burns itself out, leaving no trace. But it’s still active in Eddie…he’s fighting it with everything he has. Hopefully I can get this to a lab down in Trinity and we can figure out what we are up against.”
“And who’s doing this,” added Glen.
Torie’s mind was swimming with the flood of questions she longed to ask. But she didn’t feel like she was in any position to question what was going on. After what she had just seen, she certainly believed her mother. In fact, she was terrified at the thought of what it might mean that her mother was in such a close friendship with these
shifters. Why would they have adopted her into their midst?
“So, what about Eddie?” Torie asked. “Does he just stay here like this?”
“For now, yes,” replied Ellie. “He’s too unstable to move.”
“We will take care of him,” said Alva, looking at her daughter. “I’ll call you if there is any change at all. In the meantime, you two go home and get some rest.” She glanced at Glen and Fionna. “And remember; there is safety in numbers.”
Ellie packed her bag and embraced Alva before turning to walk out. “Seriously, call me if there is any change at all. I’ll go down to Trinity, drop this off and head right back up.” The door closed softly behind her, leaving only Fionna and Glen.
“You be careful too,” said Glen, as she gave Torie’s mother a hug.
“Call us,” said Fionna, giving Alva a hug as well. She turned to Torie. “It was nice to meet you, Torie. I hope we can be great friends.” Then she gave her a hug and a smile and left the room with Glen.
When they were alone, Torie looked from Eddie to her mother, a million questions dancing across her face.
Alva sighed deeply as she turned to her daughter. “C’mon, let’s put some tea on and we can talk. I guess we have a lot to catch up on.” She took one last look at Eddie, noted that he was resting comfortably, and then escorted her daughter into the kitchen.
She filled a blue-gray kettle with water and placed it on the gas range to boil. Torie said nothing, watching her mother set about taking down cups and an impressive selection of tea from her cupboards.
“Mom, what is going on here? How do you know these people?”
Her mother smiled. “These people are my people; and they’re yours now as well.”
“What do you mean?”
Her mother didn’t say anything, but instead went about taking the kettle off the stove and steeping the tea. She took out honey, sugar and milk, indicating that her daughter should fix it the way she wanted. Once they each had a steaming cup in hand, they retired to the living room and sat on the couch.
“Torie, this town, this community, is comprised of supernaturals. By that I mean fairies, shifters, witches, the occasional ghost or two…and everyone here lives in peace and harmony. No one wants any trouble with the outside world. But about six months ago, trouble found Singing Falls. There was a murder. A deer shifter was found decapitated. Then, a few weeks later, another shifter was found, cut open with his heart removed.” She swallowed hard, taking a tentative sip of her tea before she continued. “It’s happened regularly since then. Someone is hunting the shifters in the community. And I’m terrified that if they aren’t stopped soon, the shifters may not be the only paranormal creatures hunted.”
Torie sipped her tea as well. “Mom, why are you here, living among them?”
“Because, Torie, I am a witch. And so are you.”
6
After everything that Torie had seen, she shouldn’t have been shocked by what her mother just said.
“Oh, for God’s sake, Mom,” she said. “Witches? What, were goblins already taken?”
Her mother’s eyes grew large and her hand flew to her mouth. “Torie, don’t joke about goblins; nasty creatures, those little things.”
Torie stared incredulously. Her mother was being serious. “I don’t even know what to say.”
“Well, there really isn’t much for you to say. I guess it’s up to me to keep telling you what’s going on.” She smoothed back her auburn hair, the same hair that she had passed onto her daughter. “You heard me right, we are witches. So was my mother and her mother before her. It runs in our family.”
Torie looked at her mother, trying to gauge just how serious she was.
“What?” said her mother, “you just saw a grown woman turn into a squirrel, and I promise you that is nothing compared to what some of the townspeople here can do.” She could tell that her daughter was having a hard time believing her; despite the evidence before her own eyes. “Fine.” She looked around the room and pointed at a set of candles on the fireplace mantle.
Torie’s eyes looked like saucers when the candles ignited, the flames shooting a couple of feet high before settling down to their normal burn.
Next, her mother picked up her cup of tea, stood up, still holding it in her hands, and then let it go. Rather than crash to the floor, it floated in mid-air, perfectly balanced. Torie stood up and examined the cup, waving her hands over and under it in wonder.
“How?”
“Low level telekinesis was a gift of my magic. The fire is an incantation I learned. A way to harness the energy around me and use it as I see fit. Like I said, we are witches.”
Torie flopped down on the coffee table. “When did this start?”
Her mother smiled. “Not until I was in my forties. The same age as you, my dear.”
“Are you saying…are you saying this is going to happen to me? That I could start burning things or whatever?”
“Maybe.”
“Wait, what do you mean maybe? You just said we are witches and then you…” She pointed to the candles.
“Witches have various types of gifts, Torie. Not all of them can do the same things. Who knows how your craft will present itself.”
Torie’s mind was swimming. She wasn’t sure what to make of what she had just learned. She was definitely beyond doubting at this point. Granted, for a moment, part of her wanted to believe that her mother had somehow staged this and was pulling a fast one on her, but she knew that wasn’t true.
“How did you learn what you could do?” Torie asked.
“Well, one day, I was having the worst migraine. I had always suffered from them, but they increased when I started going through the change. I woke up one morning with one, it was so bad, all I could see was flashes of light, and it felt like someone was using my head as a pin cushion. So, I made it to the bathroom and took some Excedrin, went back to bed and crawled under the covers. Only I had forgotten to draw the curtains tight. The sun came streaming in and it felt like the pain behind my eyes went from ten to one hundred all at once.
“Well, I remember lying there and thinking my head was going to explode if someone didn’t shut that curtain, but I couldn’t move. And then, just like that—” she snapped a finger, “the curtains shut. Just whipped shut in the blink of an eye. At the same time, the pain in my head started to go away. I was so wiped out that I must have passed out. I woke up a couple of hours later feeling much better and thinking I had dreamed the whole thing. But I didn’t, and what’s more, after that moment, if I concentrated hard enough, I could move things with my mind. Little things at first, but the more I practiced, the more I could do. That was how it all started.”
She looked at her daughter, waiting for a response.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Baby, at that time I didn’t know what was going on. I had no clue about these things. I did what anyone would do back then.”
“Went to a doctor?”
“What? No way. I went to the library. We didn’t have the Internet back then, so I had to research things the old-fashioned way. I found a book on strange phenomena and unexplained outbreaks of psychic events. The more I looked, the more I found. Most of it was just new age nonsense, but I did find a work that focused on older women developing powers and abilities later in life. I read every word of it, then tracked down the author. She lived in Charlottesville and when I finally found her, she was the one who told me about witchcraft and how it most likely was passed down in my family.”
That got Torie’s attention. “Did you talk to Gram about this?”
Her mother shook her head, her eyes growing misty. “We didn’t have the best relationship. She wasn’t really in the picture at the time, and well, once I thought about flying out west to talk to her about it…it was too late. The funny thing is, she had a connection to this town as well. But more on that later.”
Torie didn’t say anything. She remembered that her grandmother wasn�
�t really in the picture when she was growing up. What memories she did have of the older woman were fuzzy at best. She looked at her own mother, a pang of longing hitting her square in the chest. There was a moment of silence that passed between them, and in that moment, more was conveyed than they had spoken about in ten years.
“I’m sorry that things between us got bad, Mom.”
Her mother patted her hand before giving it a squeeze. “Hush. We don’t need to go backwards. You’re here now, and judging from the look of things, just as you are coming into your own power.”
Torie was taken aback. “What do you mean? What power?”
“Well, I don’t know what it will be or what it is called, but you said that Eddie in there spoke to you when he was in his cat form, right?” Torie nodded. “Well, I can’t understand shifters when they aren’t in their human form; as far as I know, no one can.”
A swath of cold wetness broke out on Torie’s back. “Wait, you mean they don’t speak when they are animals?”
“Not that I know of. They can communicate with one another, but not with humans. They certainly don’t speak in complete English sentences.”
Shock spread across Torie’s features and her body went rigid. “Are…are you saying I’m a shifter?” For some reason the thought terrified her.
Her mother laughed. “No. Now that I highly doubt. Supernatural creatures are born that way. I’m not a shifter, so neither are you.”
“So then what does that make me?”
Alva shrugged, giving her daughter a playful smile. “Like I said, our gifts can be different. There are a couple of other witches around. I can introduce you to them tomorrow. Maybe they will have an idea. But first, we need to keep an eye on Eddie tonight.”
Her brow furrowed as a scary thought crossed Torie’s mind. “Do you think the killer might come here?”
“No. That I doubt. I just meant we need to watch him to make sure he doesn’t get worse until Ellie can get him back on his feet again.”
The mention of the vet’s name triggered questions for Torie. “Hey, so I get it that Fionna is a shifter, but what is Glen? And Ellie?”