Portals

by Amy Simone

  “You left me with nothing,” Cassie growled.

  “Let me see what I can do,” Annie told her, then pivoted and approached the new customer.

  Cassie was not idle while she waited for Annie to return. She looked up and around the entire store, calculating and thinking. It seemed to be just about the only thing that Annie held dear. If Caleb didn’t heal quickly she wondered what might serve as a leverage.

  Her eyes closed to slits while she thought intensely. At last she had it.

  Annie finished helping the shopper.

  She calmly turned and faced Cassie. Her attitude had changed. It’d become hardened. Cassie felt the shift. She also felt the five new times Amanda must have used the gift card because a tiny jolt would run down the length of her body. Life must be tough as a credit card, she mused.

  Annie said in a slightly challenging tone, “I guess we’re even. Your boy is sick. We spent time in jail. Then you hurt my husband. Yeah, I realized it was not just any cat—especially after I heard your sister out there telling that man to give the cat up.”

  “My son had nothing to do with any of this.”

  “Let me call Greg.”

  “Let’s not!” Cassie grabbed Annie’s cell out of her hand. “You said he was the cause. No need to bring that man into this.” She pocketed Annie’s phone.

  “Hey, give that back.”

  “Later. Let’s step outside for a moment.” Cassie gripped Annie’s elbow.

  Once on the sidewalk, she turned Annie to face her storefront. They heard a slight whoosh as a giant net encased the building.

  “What are you doing?” Annie gasped.

  “Taking care of your business.” Cassie snapped her fingers and the entire store floated off of its foundation. Now it hovered four feet above the ground.

  “No. Leave it alone.”

  “My son. Remember Caleb?” Cassie warned her. “If you don’t want this thing flung into the Gulf, I need assurances. Real ones this time. It’s a whole new day, Annie.”

  Annie’s eyes looked furtively about.

  “I don’t know why you‘re blaming me,” Annie yelped to thin air.

  There was a scraping sound on the sidewalk behind them. Cassie turned and saw Romilda and Natasha dragging towards them.

  “Oh, no you don’t,” Cassie yelled.

  Within nanoseconds the witches were next to them. Cassie didn’t move.

  “Annie. Annie,” Natasha called out in a gravelly voice, “are you all right, my sweet?”

  “I’m fine. This woman thinks she’s got me.” Annie stomped her foot on top of Cassie’s.

  “Damn it!” Cassie cried. She had not realized the witches had formed some of allegiance with Annie. This was the first she knew of this development.

  A passerby on the other side of the street looked over curiously. All that was visible was two women having a disagreement. The store did not appear suspended—at least not to the outsider—either although Cassie knew better.

  Encouraged by the witches’ presence, Annie commanded, “Put the store back. I want my phone back, too!”

  Cassie backed away, trying to get free of the small knot. One witch held out her arm and blocked her.

  “Do like the nice lady says.”

  “You lied,” Cassie told them.

  “What’s a little lie among friends? You need to pay.” That was Romilda. Then she and the witch burst into laughter.

  Annie smiled. “They’re right. Poor Greg. His back is still healing.” She put out her hand, expecting Cassie to place her phone in it.

  The store still hung in the balance, not grounded yet not leaving the scene either.

  There were two soft popping sounds. Over Annie’s shoulder Cassie saw the Coach and Bruce a half a block away making their way towards them.

  She kept quiet.

  Then there were the six of them standing in a small huddle.

  “Hello ladies,” the Coach started.

  “Bastard,” Romilda screeched. “You don’t belong here.”

  Bruce folded his massive arms and complacently surveyed the group.

  “Now don’t I though?” the Coach intoned. “I thought it would please you to see me.”

  “You are kidding,” Natasha said. “It was your fault for getting involved in the first place with this human.”

  “Tsk tsk,” the Coach replied. “I tried to save you that day.”

  “How? By just standing there flapping your cloak?”

  “We need to come to terms,” the Coach continued.

  “We need not do anything. Especially coming from you,” Natasha told him.

  Looking up into Natasha’s hood, Cassie could see that one of her drooping eyes was violet and the other a sharp emerald green. It was disquieting.

  The witch whipped her back around and held her head up, looking away from the group. “Now leave,” she snarled.

  The Coach stood his ground.

  “Leave,” she repeated.

  “No,” the Coach said.

  The ground shook violently under their feet. Cassie saw a chasm open up in the pavement next to them that kept getting wider until it swallowed all of them and the store. There was a kaboom, then a deadening silence and darkness. She felt something warm under her. The blob chair in the Coach‘s office now surrounded her, imprisoning her in fact. The pliable black material held her head fixed and had extended a flap that covered her eyes.

  54

  Held

  Cassie fought to get out of the chair without success.

  “Bruce? Coach?” she called.

  There was no answer. Instead, she heard muffled sounds as if they’d moved to another room nearby. There was some pounding and yelling, too. The blog chair kept her encased. She struggled to get free again. No luck.

  The air smelled of dust. From what she remembered the entire store had fallen with them. She could only hope they had landed in the Coach’s office, too.

  “You okay?” It was Annie. She sounded nearby.

  “I think so,” Cassie told her. “You got us in a mess.”

  “I don’t think so. When this is over I want everything to be exactly the way it was… I can only imagine what all got broken in my shop after that fall….”

  Cassie shifted from side to side. “What makes you think this will end?”

  She could hear voices from another room. They got louder. Cassie surmised it was a you-against-me scene in there—with the two witches confronting the Coach and Bruce.

  “If it makes any difference to you, I’m sorry,” Annie said.

  “You’re just saying that ‘cause you’re scared.”

  There was a loud bang. It sounded thick and dull like a piece of metal or someone had thrown furniture up against the wall.

  “I know you got me and Greg out of hot water,” Annie continued.

  “Annie? Why don’t you shut up?” Cassie warned her. “My son’s sick. Thanks to you.”

  More thumping followed. The voices rose and fell.

  “What are they doing in there?” Annie asked.

  Cassie refused to speak. She would try what Bob had suggested frequently—give it time, be quiet and listen. As much as she strained to hear the words she only made out snatches of the conversation.

  One witch said, “Give us…”

  The Coach answered, “You’re not…”

  Then she heard what Bruce laugh sardonically. Whatever was going on in there, it sounded twisted.

  Suddenly the chairs released the two women. There was enough lighting from the bank of monitor screens for them to see each other. Cassie brushed herself off and stood up, looking about for any doors. Crashing booms still came from the discussion room—wherever that was.

  “Do you know how to get out of here?” Annie asked her.

  “You can stay here for all I care,” she replied as she walked away, feeling along the walls. Because everything was so dark she couldn’t tell where anything was. “I’ve got to get back to the hospital.”
<
br />   Annie sat sideways on her chair transfixed by the monitors. “My God, what is all that?”

  “They watch us.” Cassie kept probing.

  Annie approached the screens, reaching out to touch one. A zap went through her arm, then she was calling out elatedly. “It’s Greg! I can see Greg! Honey, oh honey, get me out of this place!”

  Yes it was Greg on the screen. He sat in a chair reading a paper with a sports game on TV. Obviously he was at home.

  “He can’t hear you, you idiot,” Cassie said. “Give it up! But that gives me an idea…” She approached a screen too and pointed at it, then lightly touched it. At first she saw the inside of Caleb’s hospital room. Then the image changed to the waiting room. She flicked her wrist in a swiping motion and now she saw Catherine, then she swiped over to Hayworth in Colorado.

  “It’s like Google Earth,” she told Annie. “Whoever you’re connected to…” She played with the images, changing from one person to the next. “Must be my database,” she muttered.

  A flash of light illuminated most of the room. The Coach, Bruce and the witches all walked out. Nobody looked any worse for the wear, though.

  Cassie and Annie clung back as if afraid that someone had caught them doing something naughty with the screens.

  The Coach smiled, though. “You discovered how it works,” he said. “Good for you.”

  Cassie stammered, “why aren’t any of you messed up? All that noise!”

  Bruce answered, “they used energy balls. Come see in here.” He opened the door all the way and ushered Annie and Cassie towards the room. Black streaks had left irregular markings all over the walls, ceiling and floor.

  “It’ll need repainting,” Bruce chuckled. “A whole lotta zapping went on in there.” He snapped his fingers and jilted his hips back and forth as if avoiding darts. “Yee haw.”

  The Coach took a seat at his desk. Annie’s massive building stood at a tilting angle on one side of him. Her window displays were all askew inside. It looked like an earthquake had torqued the edifice.

  “The good news is we’ve come to an agreement,” the Coach made the customary tent with his fingertips. “The bad news is it’s gonna cost….”

  55

  The Price

  “Wait. I’ve already paid,” Cassie objected. “It’s my son.” As soon as she said the word “paid,” Cassie realized she had felt none more strokes of any credit card machines in the last hour. She figured Amanda had finally used up all the credit. That was another matter though.

  “These fine ladies here…” the Coach pointed at the witches. Cassie bristled when he did that. “… have agreed to help us restore things. The price though is that your son has to stay where he is a bit longer.”

  “I don’t understand,” Cassie objected. “I mean what do we get out of all this.”

  Bruce took her by her shoulders and shook her. He held his finger up to his lips. “Shh,” he said to Cassie.

  “We can’t just have him go into a spontaneous remission, Cassie,” the Coach explained. “That will bring too much curiosity. They’ll be probing and examining him for the rest of his life. No, we need to allow it to look normal—at least in human terms.”

  “That’s not fair,” Cassie wailed.

  Romilda cackled.

  “Hold on,” the Coach said.

  “What about my store?” Annie asked.

  “You’re getting it back.”

  “Still not fair,” Cassie added sullenly.

  “Caleb will be fine.” The Coach stared at Cassie. “I get my sister back,” he told her. “She’s been sentenced to serve as a monitor far away from me. I haven’t seen her in two hundred years.”

  “What?” That was Annie. “Hundreds of years?” She gasped.

  Cassie kicked her with her foot. “Just listen.”

  “That’s the payoff. I get my sister back. You two get your things back. The witches will lift the ban on my sister.”

  “Your sister is something else, Coach,” Bruce added.

  “I agree and I must keep watch over her.”

  Cassie saw the two hooded hags nodding in agreement. She turned and looked at Bruce. “What did his sister do?”

  “She got into a mess with the Chinese mafia,” Bruce explained. “Likes to gamble. They warned her. And this was after her running with the Russians.”

  Annie stepped forward. “What about my store?”

  The Coach lifted his hands slightly above his head, gleefully clapped once. The building lifted and evacuated itself out of his office.

  “Oh thank you,” Annie squealed.

  “Why does my son have to suffer at all?” Cassie asked.

  “Patience. You must trust us. Now if you’ll excuse…” He clapped one more time which brought Cassie right back to the hospital.

  Catherine had shown up. Her face registered the shock seeing her nephew so ill.

  Caleb opened his eyes when he heard his mother’s voice.

  “Mommy,” he said.

  Cassie rushed forward and touched his forehead. “You will be okay, baby.”

  “Turn that TV off,” Cassie told Catherine. She leaned closer to Caleb’s head to whisper something in his ear. Catherine watched but could not hear what she said. Caleb first frowned as he concentrated then he lit up. Cassie stroked his head until his breath got slow and steady.

  Cassie and Catherine walked out of Caleb’s room and to a window that overlooked the labyrinth. Sure enough, several floors below them the entire scene looked as if some artist had painted it with Boho chic colors. If nothing else, that would serve as her and Caleb’s anonymous legacy to this hospital, she thought.

  “What caused all this, Cassie?” Catherine asked her.

  “The doctors aren’t sure.”

  “Let me know if there are any changes. I’m so worried for all of you.” Catherine gripped Cassie‘s wrist and squeezed.

  After Catherine left, Cassie sneaked out to a stairwell and called Bob.

  “How is he?”

  “So so. I’ll explain later. I will stay here until they let him out.”

  “I miss you,” Bob told her. “Right this minute I’m petting Whomper with my foot like you do.”

  Cassie sat down on a stair. “I miss you too. I hope everything smoothes out.”

  “Do whatever you need to do. I’ll be here.”

  56

  The Talisman

  Cassie returned to the hospital before seven the next morning. Ralph had slept sitting up in the boy’s room. She brought him coffee. Caleb had stirred, a good sign. The doctor would be in around eight when he began his rounds.

  “No more blood?” she asked Ralph softly.

  Ralph looked up at her and pointed that they go out to the hall.

  “Cassie, the docs still suspect he swallowed something—intentional or not. I mean has something has upset Caleb about anything?”

  “He’s been down because we split up, if that’s what you’re getting at. But not anything over the top.” Cocking her head, “I don’t think he would have done something rash, though.”

  “They see scratches…”

  “Oh.”

  “One of them suggested we have child and protective services look over our places.”

  “You’re kidding!”

  “I’m not,” he said.

  “Whatever. Bring it on, I guess.” She stared at her ex. “Welcome to the world of having kids, huh.”

  “I just want him to get better.” Ralph stuck his hands in his pockets. “We have nothing to hide, anyway.”

  Caleb heard the murmur of his parents just outside his door. He felt heartened that his mommy and daddy were together again and talking about him! He couldn’t make out what they were saying, but it made him glad. Maybe they’d patch things up. His throat hurt terrible, though. He hated swallowing. For the moment he was being fed through tubes to allow his throat to heal.

  “I’ve got to get to work,” Ralph said.

  He reentered Caleb’s
hospital room and gently patted his son’s shoulder.

  “Hang tough, little soldier. I’ll call you and your mom later.”

  Caleb opened his eyes and looked at his dad. He seemed more peaceful and not as anxious as he had the day before. Ralph kissed Caleb’s forehead and left.

  Cassie quietly watched her son, unable to take her eyes off of him.

  “Mom! Quit looking at me!” Caleb whined.

  She got up, grabbed the remote and turned on the television to distract herself.

  Later in the day the doctors performed more tests and scopes on Caleb. Another doctor asked her if her son had a history of swallowing odd things.

  “No, not at all,” she said. The doctor didn’t look like he believed her.

  She texted both Catherine and Hayworth about Caleb’s status. Hayworth had already returned to Colorado. She left a message for her supervisor explaining that she needed to take care of her son who was in the hospital. She wouldn‘t make her shift that evening.

  Compulsively she’d stroked the top of her son’s head.

  “Stop, mom. I will be okay.” He sounded stronger all right. She dropped her hand.

  “I just want you to be all-the-way okay.”

  Later, when Ralph came back to relieve her, and she drove back to Hayworth’s house, she couldn’t help but notice all the trees in bloom. It was mid-spring now but seeing the beauty rubbed her raw. Her son was sick, and none of this seemed fair. The Coach’s assurances seemed so faint and far away.

  She called ahead so she could pick up Josh on her way to home.