Coercion

by Tamara Hart Heiner

  I scooted over as Meredith pushed in next to me. “So Laima texted you?”

  Amy nodded, holding up her smart phone. “But she didn’t give us a way to contact you, which meant we had to be creative.” The two of them exchanged a smile.

  “You have some kind of physical hold over me?”

  “No. I called you. One goddess to another.”

  Melissa leaned forward. “If you were a mere mortal, Amy could just tweak your destiny so you would decide to come and eat here.”

  My head swiveled to Amy. “You have the power to summon visions at will? So you’ve already mastered your former selves?”

  Amy twirled a strand of her long black hair around her finger. “I can summon visions. And I can call on memories when I need them.”

  My eyes switched to Melissa. “And you?”

  Melissa shrugged. “It’s taking me longer, but I’ve almost mastered them.”

  “With no help?”

  I hadn’t noticed Trey drop into the booth on the other side of Meredith until he spoke.

  “We had help.” Amy’s lips formed into a tight line. “We had an Auseklis.”

  “Had?” Trey leaned in closer. “What happened to him?”

  “She took him.” Amy’s eyes smoldered.

  “Who?” I demanded, even though I suspected the answer.

  “Samantha.” Melissa spat the word out like venom. “She took his powers. Amy and I barely escaped with ours intact.”

  I leaned back in my seat, a cold chill washing from the top of my head to the tips of my toes. “You were in danger?”

  Amy focused her dark eyes on me, brimming with sadness. “She’s seeking out as many from the lines of Karta and Dekla as she can. Since joining her powers with Jods, she’s no longer restricted by geographical lines or age. She’s not bound by a moral code to not manipulate. She could force us to relinquish our powers to her. We relied on Kevin—our Auseklis—to protect us. Without him, we are more vulnerable.”

  “How did she get to you?” I asked, my skin prickling. “Did you seek her out? Confront her?”

  “No,” Melissa said in that gravelly voice of hers. “Laima told us to lie low and wait for you. But Samantha felt one of us change a future and tracked us. We are not allowed to use our powers now.”

  “She’s hunting us,” I whispered. I glanced around the restaurant and fought the urge to crawl under the table. “But you used them to get me here.”

  “Out of necessity,” Amy said.

  “Then we shouldn’t stay here.”

  “We won’t stay long,” Melissa said. “By the time she gets here, we’ll be gone.”

  I didn’t feel their confidence. I took a deep breath and tried to shake it off. The food hadn’t arrived yet, but the desire to fly away raced through my veins.

  Like I could fly.

  Focus, Jayne. I furrowed my brow, bringing my brain power back to the issue at hand. “But can’t you help your Auseklis get his powers back?”

  Melissa shook her head.

  I sent Trey an accusing look. We’d rescued him because he said he could help us. But what if there was no way to do that?

  Before I could lift my voice, Melissa said, “She killed him.”

  That cut me off short. “She did?”

  “Well, one of her soldiers,” Amy said tightly. “He was too old to defend himself without his powers.”

  “How did she take them?”

  “She changed his destiny,” Amy answered. “It became his fate to die.”

  “So he just what—gave up?”

  “Pretty much. He gave her his powers. And then he died.”

  The temperature seemed to have dropped by ten degrees. I wrapped my arms around myself, unable to meet Trey’s eyes. Was that his fate, as well?

  “That’s not gonna happen to us, Jayne,” Trey said, his voice firm. “Your situation and your abilities are different.”

  “Yes,” Amy said. “You are stronger. That’s why you’ve been chosen to lead us.”

  I jerked back, startled. “What?”

  Melissa spread her hands wide. “It’s like he said. You’re unique. Your sister goddess is your actual sister. You still have your Auseklis.”

  “But she can’t even control her power. How is she supposed to lead anyone?” Trey said, the derision ripe in his voice.

  I frowned at him. “A lot of good you are as my Auseklis. You don’t have powers either.”

  “Guess we make quite a pair,” he said with a smirk.

  “And you have a ragana,” Amy said, locking eyes with Meredith. There was no mistaking the envy on her face now.

  “If we’d had a ragana . . .” Melissa sighed.

  “What do you guys do all day?” Beth asked. “Do you have jobs? Families?”

  Amy laughed, a high, tinkling, playful sound. “Of course we have jobs and families. And real lives. But we communicate with each other always. Rarely does the day go by without a vision. And right now, Laima wants us by each other’s side. We’ve answered her call, just as you have.”

  The server arrived with our food, and Amy stood, collecting the napkins and utensil wrappers. “We should go now.”

  Amy ushered us out the door, putting our food in our hands and prodding us along.

  “Where are we going?” I asked, digging my sandwich out of the foil wrapper.

  “We reserved a hotel room for you.Go, rest. We’ll call you tonight.”

  “We don’t have phones,” Meredith said. “We turned them off.”

  Melissa pulled hers out of her purse and handed it to Meredith. “Use mine.”

  “Jayne still needs training,” Trey said. “Can you teach her to summon?”

  “And me?” Beth asked.

  Trey unlocked his truck, and I climbed in and then hung out the window while the others climbed up beside me.

  “We know a safe place where we can practice with out powers,” Amy said. “We’ll be in touch.”

  “Others are here,” Melissa said. “Laima has called our sisters. More will be coming.”

  Trey started up his truck. “Good. We’re going to need them.”

  The skin around Amy’s eyes tightened, and she looked older now, more tired. “It won’t be enough.”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Trey nervously paced in the small hotel room Amy and Melissa had arranged for us. Meredith and Beth had gone to the ice machine, and it was just me, pretending to be interested in the television while the strange boy beside me marched around the room.

  “Can you just sit down?” I said. “It’s not like you’re accomplishing anything.”

  He ignored my request, shoving one hand through his red hair while he marched. “Gathering Deklas and Kartas in one place, it makes us an easy target for Samantha.”

  “What’s she going to do, launch her torpedoes at us? Besides, Melissa said none of us are staying in the same hotel.”

  That didn’t stop Trey’s pacing. “Will it be enough? How many Deklas are coming? It gives her a chance to—” Trey cut himself off.

  I frowned at him. “Gives her a chance to what?”

  He shook his head. “Nothing, it’s nothing.”

  The hotel room door clicked open, and Meredith and Beth walked in with a full bucket of ice and several soft drinks nestled inside. Beth settled beside me on the bed we would be sharing while Meredith sank down onto the other. Front desk had brought a rollaway bed for Trey, but he still hadn’t opened it or set it up.

  “So what happens now?” Beth asked, focusing her attention on me.

  I shrugged. “We just wait.” I glanced at the cell phone Melissa had let us borrow.

  Trey uttered a low growl of frustration. “We are worthless to them. The only one here who can do anything is Meredith, who still has to spout off poetry to get her powers to work!”

  “Thanks,” Meredith muttered. “Feeling really useful now.”

  “You?” Beth turned a lifted eyebrow in Meredith’s direction. “He pretty much just s
aid the rest of us are good for nothing.”

  Trey threw his arms into the air and walked out of the room.

  “Should one of us go after him?” Beth asked.

  “Let him stew,” I said. “Whatever is going on is way over our heads. He knows it.”

  Meredith flipped on the television and sifted through channels until she found the news. I didn’t want to watch, but I couldn’t turn my eyes away from the thought that we might get updated information. Luckily the newscaster’s biggest concern seemed to be the early migration of butterflies, and I lay back, letting my mind drift into a hypnotic state of relaxation.

  I turned across the pillow and said to Meredith, “Do you have your poem ready?”

  She bobbed her head, though she looked uncertain. “I don’t know if it will work on Samantha.”

  I splayed one hand wide. “I don’t see why not. Your spells work on me.”

  “Yes, well, I don’t know exactly what she is anymore.”

  “I guess the best we can do is try. But there’s still the problem of her minions. The army of people she has under her command. You can try the poem on them.”

  Meredith didn’t look any more reassured. “And how human are they?”

  She brought up a relevant concern, but I brushed it off. We couldn’t be plagued by our doubts. “They’re still human. It will work.” It had to work, because the alternative . . . I began to understand Trey’s frustration.

  Where had he gone, anyway? At any moment Melissa might call, and I didn’t want to have to track him down.

  Beth stood up and wandered to the hotel window. “A storm is brewing,” she murmured, staring out over the horizon.

  Meredith and I joined her, and we stared at the mass of swirling dark clouds centralized over a location a few blocks away. I wrapped my arms around my torso, squeezing my elbows.

  The hotel door opened at the same time that Melissa’s cell phone rang. The three of us turned as one from the window as Trey picked up the phone. “Hello?” he said.

  Amy’s voice carried through the line. But she sounded panicked, anxious, and Trey’s expression tightened as he listened. He hung up without answering, then looked at the three of us.

  “There’s no time for training. We have to go now.”

  “So that’s the bat signal,” Meredith said.

  No training? Now? “What are we supposed to do?” My voice came out high-pitched, and I gestured out the window behind me. “What are we walking into?” Premonition crept along my spine like the skinny, hairy legs of a spider.

  “She’s going to try to turn us all,” Meredith said.

  Trey tilted his head, his cold eyes on me. “You are the goddess of fate. You tell me what we’re walking into. You’re the one who can smell death.”

  “And on that optimistic peptalk.” Meredith shot a glare at Trey. “Nothing like a vote of confidence to get our spirits rallied. Let’s go. They’re waiting.”

  Trey didn’t say anything, just lowered his head and followed us out of the room. But I knew his silence wasn’t an apology. He fully expected us to die or lose our powers and become Samantha’s minions or something like that.

  I grabbed his arm as we followed after Meredith. “What did you mean back there? Am I supposed to See something here?”

  He shook me off, frustration evident in his entire demeanor. “How am I supposed to know? This is my first rodeo too. I didn’t think it would be my last.”

  “Hey. It’s not my fault you lost your powers. That was you not being on your guard. And now you blame me for not being able to save you when you’re the one who’s supposed be protecting me? So just chill your boots.”

  He stared at me for a moment, and then his face cracked into a grin. “Chill my boots? Where did you come up with that one?”

  My face warmed. “I don’t know, you just seem like someone who would wear boots. Living out here in Hicksville.”

  “We’re in Kentucky now. I don’t live here. But this is definitely Hicksville.” His hand landed on my shoulder, and some of the tightness eased out of his mouth. “Do what you can out there. Maybe we can reverse this.” He let go and followed after the other two.

  “The people of Kentucky might take exception to that observation,” I muttered. But I didn’t feel any better. Somehow Trey’s attempt at reassurance had only made me feel worse.

  I pounded the palm of my fist against my temple. “Remember, Jayne! Put yourself together! All of yourselves!”

  “Jayne!” Beth called, and I quickened my pace to reach her.

  I was the last one into the truck, which meant I was by the door, again.

  “It stinks in here,” Meredith said. “Like sweat and boys.”

  “Don’t look at me,” Trey said, starting the engine. “I don’t sweat. That’s on you.”

  “I suppose next you’re gonna tell me you’re not a boy?” Meredith raised her eyebrows.

  Trey opened his mouth to respond, but Beth burst out laughing, and he promptly closed it.

  A phone dinged somewhere, and I turned my attention to Beth as she held up Melissa’s smart phone.

  “She just sent me a dropped pin.”

  “Great,” Trey said, eyes forward. “Guide me there.”

  I bit down anxiously on my thumbnail.

  The weather changed as we got closer. The clouds above us looked like a funnel tunnel in reverse, dark gray and twisting.

  “How does she control the elements like that?” Beth asked, peering out the window.

  “She can’t,” Trey said. “It’s probably Velu Mate. She’s Velns’ mother, the goddess of the dead. That vortex is a portal to the world of the unliving.”

  Trey’s grandpa’s truck came to a stuttering halt, and a chilling sense of déjà vu went through me.

  “Just like last time,” Meredith murmured.

  Unlike last time, we weren’t going to sit here like ducks waiting to be attacked. I pushed open the car door and climbed out. The others followed my lead.

  Beth still held the phone out in front of her. “It’s this way.”

  No business park this time, no concrete warehouse or parking garage. This time, it was a city park. A running trail wound around the perimeter of the green grassy field, a baseball diamond in the center. And standing at home plate was none other than Samantha. She wore jeans and a pink tank top, looking more human and normal than the first time I’d met her. But somehow, with her black hair billowing away from her face and her hands out at her sides, she fit the perfect stereotype of an evil witch.

  Or maybe that fit the hunched old woman beside her, face hidden by a hooded cloak, spindly fingers moving around each other as if caressing an invisible ball. Something about her terrified me, and my feet ground to a halt.

  Trey hands clenched and unclenched, and he practically bounced on his heels. “This isn’t right. Why would they stand out there for all of us to see? Taunting us, wanting us to go out there.”

  I struggled for breath, not wanting them to see my fear.

  “It’s a Dementor,” Beth whispered, and Meredith turned to her.

  “Eyes of light, heart of gold, you are ready for this fight,” she said.

  Her words prompted an immediate reaction, dispelling the fear as if a flashlight had sliced through the darkness. I inhaled and straightened my shoulders.

  “Jayne, Beth.”

  My head swiveled around at the sound of our names. Amy and Melissa approached and stopped a few feet behind us.

  “What now?” I asked.

  “The others are coming,” Amy said.

  Melissa pointed behind. I turned around and saw about a dozen people moving closer to us.

  “We got five other goddess pairs,” Amy said. “Two of them have their own ragana, and three of them have an Auseklis.” She cast a quick glance at me and Beth. “You are the only two with both.”

  I studied the motley group of people as they approached us. Mostly female, of course, and older. These groups had much more experi
ence than me.

  Amy looked at me. “Do you want to take the lead?”

  “What? Me?” I shook my head. “No! I don’t have any idea what to do here!”

  Amy smiled, though it was tinged with sadness, like everything she did. “Follow my example.”

  She turned around and walked toward the baseball diamond, where Samantha hadn’t moved except to drop her arms. There was a flash of light, and suddenly Jods appeared beside her. I gave a start. He looked so similar to the other one, the one who kept coming to me. Except where the other one wore grassy reeds over one shoulder, this one exposed his muscular torso with only a woven man-skirt around his hips.

  The rest of us fell into place behind Amy. The wind picked up as we approached, whipping Amy’s hair behind her head and tugging at her flowing blouse.

  “Samantha,” Amy shouted as we approached within hearing range, “it’s time to give up. Relinquish your hold on the souls and renounce this power quest, and you will be returned to a mortal life.”

  Samantha burst out laughing, her voice far louder than it should have been from the distance. “Is that something you think you can grant me? You have no power over me.”

  Amy continued unfazed. “If you don’t relinquish them, we will be forced to destroy you. You have broken the laws of nature, and Jumis will not claim your soul for the underworld. There will be nothing left of you.”

  The storm darkened overhead, thunder rumbling, and Jods put his hand on Samantha’s shoulder. She visibly straightened, and I narrowed my eyes. Perhaps I had misunderstood the dynamics. It didn’t look like he was taking orders anymore.

  “You have no power over me,” Samantha repeated, a twisted smile pulling across her lips. “I’m surprised you dare face me again. I will suck your power from you just like I did your manservant.”

  “We have back up this time!” Melissa shouted. “And he wasn’t a manservant!”

  One of the women to the right of me pulled back and moved her hands together. Between her palms lightning flickered and then grew, forming an electric ball.

  “What is she doing and how is she doing that?” I gasped.

  “She’s their ragana,” Trey said. “They don’t just manipulate emotions.”

  “You mean I can do that?” Meredith asked, her eyes wide.