Blood Creek Witch

by Jay Barnson

  Jack shook his head. “We came here to get you. We need to get back. Jenny was left behind, and Evelyn’s got her.”

  Annabelle locked her eyes on Jack’s. “Who now? Should I know these people?”

  “Evelyn’s a witch. She attacked us with giant mosquitoes at the pond. She works for the man in the white suit. He wants her to come here and fetch his daughter and bring her over there.”

  “That would be bad news all around. You were right coming to warn me.”

  “And Jenny’s your granddaughter.”

  “What?” Annabelle’s wrinkled, sun-darkened face paled.

  Jessabelle jumped in. “She’s Aunt Amelia’s daughter. She’s a witch, too.”

  “Amelia? Did she come back?”

  Jessabelle shook her head. “No. She died a few weeks ago. Jenny came to live with Aunt Hattie.”

  Annabelle’s vigor and confidence drained away, and she seemed to age ten years before Jack’s eyes. “How did it happen?”

  “Car accident,” Jessabelle answered.

  “Maybe,” Jack said.

  Annabelle frowned at Jack. “Do you mean maybe it wasn’t an accident?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Annabelle raised her fist to her forehead, breathing heavily. After several seconds, she regained her composure and lowered her hand. “Alright. This don’t change much.” She exhaled deeply. “Sorry. Even controlling something as stupid as a giant takes a lot out of me.”

  “Was it really that hard?” Jessabelle asked. “Making the giant go away?”

  “Yes, it was. People are even harder. I can influence people in subtle ways, but not like that. But your aunt Amy can…could…” Annabelle didn’t finish.

  The silence felt awkward. Before he realized what he was saying, Jack blurted out, “Evelyn made the entire town hate me.” Annabelle glanced at him, and he shrugged, trying to figure out how to un-stick his foot from his mouth. “I reckon that might have been one of those subtle things you talked about, all things considered. Not like anybody liked me to begin with.”

  “I liked you!” Jessabelle protested. She realized what she said, and put her hand over her mouth. Then she turned to Annabelle and said, “She made me believe Jack was making up stuff, even after we fought an ogre and killed a snallygaster together!”

  Annabelle raised her eyebrows. “You killed a snallygaster?”

  “And an ogre,” Sean added helpfully.

  “From here?”

  Jack shrugged. “Where else would they have come from?”

  Annabelle sighed. “Well, there’s clearly much more to y’all kids than meets the eye. That’s good. But it also means my barrier is wearing down a lot faster than I thought. That’s bad. And you say this witch has my granddaughter?”

  Jessabelle nodded vigorously. “Yes. She sicced giant mosquitoes on us. Jenny’s the one who kept us safe with her protection spells. But then we found ourselves here without her.”

  Remembering the conversation between Evelyn and Thadeus, Jack said, “Evelyn may be planning on trying to take you by surprise and killing you.”

  Annabelle half-smiled. “Well, y’all done spoiled that real good now, didn’t ya? Anyhow, I want to meet Amy’s daughter. But if this witch you are telling me about is as powerful as you say, we can’t go in without a plan. I don’t reckon she’ll come over here without being ready to hit me with everything she’s got, either.”

  Jessabelle asked, “How do we know she hasn’t come over already?”

  Annabelle shrugged. “It depends. The witch bottle on this side prevents things from coming through from the other side, not from leaving. I’d know if it was overpowered. But if Amy’s daughter…”

  “Jenny,” Jessabelle said.

  “Right. If Jenny told the witch the key to coming through, then she might pass in without me knowing it.”

  “What’s the key?” Jessabelle asked. “Jenny and I were trying to figure out what that passage meant in your journal.”

  Annabelle’s eyebrows shot up. “You don’t know? How did you get through?”

  They looked at each other, and shrugged. Sean ventured, “It was pretty crazy. We were in the middle of a fight. We didn’t know what was happening. Jenny protected us and then we were here.”

  Annabelle smiled. “Amy taught her daughter well. The key is that old song of protection I taught her. Sort of a family trademark. She must have protected you, and didn’t help herself. I need to get some supplies from my cabin, and you young folk need to arm up. Then it’ll be our turn to help her.”

  As near as Sean could tell, Annabelle’s cabin wasn’t too far from where her old house was on the other side. The Rose home looked like a miracle of modern convenience compared to this place. It had shutters instead of glass windows, and everything seemed handmade.

  “Do people live around here?” Jessabelle asked her grandmother.

  “Out yonder a ways. There’s no Maple Bend like you know it, Jessabelle. Nobody wants to live so close to giants and ogres.”

  “Except you.”

  “I don’t want to live that close to them, either. I’d rather live on the other side of the crossroads, to be sure, but I’ve got a job to do. I have some friends down in town when I make the trek to go trading. I even met a feller I have my eye on. He’s a widower. Oh, I do go on. I want to hear more about what you did. In particular, Sean, I want to hear about Debbie.”

  Annabelle used her version of healing juice to fix Sean’s bug-bites and Jack’s injuries. She scrounged up food for them all, and then retrieved a bow, arrows, and a knife from under her bed. As she worked, she made Sean tell his story.

  Sean hadn’t told anyone the full story of his encounters with Debra Arnot’s ghost, but it felt good to tell people, right up to the point where it came to breaking into Annabelle’s house and accidentally leading Evelyn to it. He also told them all about Avery, and how the ghost of the murderous preacher had promised to hunt him down.

  Annabelle asked questions, but they seemed like insignificant details. “What was she wearing that time?” and “What time was it that she appeared? Exactly how long was she with you?” and “Do you know how long it took for her to appear to Jenny after Evelyn cast her sleep spell?”

  She began assembling some items that Sean recognized as parts of the witch-bottle. “You are making a new one?” he asked.

  She nodded. “I’m also including written instructions for Jenny, in case I can’t go over to the other side.”

  “Why not?” Jessabelle cried out. “You are coming back home now ain’t you?”

  “Believe me, I want to. If Amy’s daughter is as powerful as you say, maybe. I just don’t know, Jessabelle.” She looked at her granddaughter, who glared open-mouthed back at her. Annabelle continued. “The problem is, I need to be here more than I need to be there. See, this place is what we called ‘Round the Bend. It’s another world, really, that runs just askew of our own. Many of them old stories you heard about monsters, dragons, giants, trolls, and all that come from this place, at least originally. It ain’t easy to go between the worlds, but where the wild things grow and magic is strong—or where magic festers, depending on one’s point of view—sometimes a path forms.”

  She prepared the ingredients and put them inside the bottle. Even though it was still light outside, she lit a candle. Then she continued. “Nowadays, our world is more settled and civilized, and there ain’t many places where magic grows wild and the crossroads naturally appear. Leastways not many that accessible. But in the old days, there were lots of them. Back then, guardians were appointed over these old paths. There was only one for a smaller path, but for bigger or better-known crossroads, they placed a guardian on both sides.”

  “That sounds a little redundant,” Sean said.

  “A little. But you can only hold the door closed against anything coming in, not so much things going out. And two guardians working both sides could close a crossroads completely.” Annabelle finished preparing the bottle,
and placed the stopper in the top. She lifted the candle and tipped it to the side, letting the melted wax dribble down along the seam between the stopper and bottle.

  “So you’re the guardian of Maple Bend,” Jack said as she replaced the candle.

  “I reckon. It’s sort of our family legacy. I’m here to stop people like Evelyn from coming in.”

  “Why?” asked Jessabelle. “Why can’t you just let someone who belongs here guard this side?”

  Jack added, “He said something about bringing his daughter back. Is that a bad thing?”

  She nodded. “That’s a story for the road. Let’s get going before we lose the sunlight.”

  They left the cabin, and began making their way to the crossroads. At one clearing, Annabelle pointed across the stream toward a ridge. “There’s a pack of giants who live up yonder along the mountainside,” Annabelle said. “We generally leave each other alone. These parts are wild and dangerous, even by the standards of ‘Round the Bend. Giants ain’t even the most dangerous things ‘round here.”

  Jack frowned. “How come they can come into Maple Bend?”

  “That’s where Thadeus comes in. He’s been involved in Maple Bend for generations. I told you magic grows wild where nature grows wild, or where human suffering and death grow. There’s been a bit of both at Maple Bend… or Blood Creek, as it used to be called. Lotta folks disappearing, dying, and their haunts roaming the woods. Like your pal Avery, the murderer-preacher. Thadeus—he went by a different name then—gave Avery a sizable donation to set up shop down there between Branton and Blood Creek. The man in the white suit brought that kind of trouble to the Creek whenever he could. Poverty, pain, and disease. Ghosts. All that weakens the borders between here and there. It’s like it comes apart at the seams, no matter what we do to seal it closed.”

  “Did you have Avery killed?” Sean asked. It came out a lot more blunt than he intended.

  “Yes, I did. Against my mother’s wishes, I might add. She planned to run him off. I thought that wasn’t right, because he’d keep on killing elsewhere. I reckon she knew his ghost would be a problem.”

  “Can his ghost be destroyed?”

  “Destroyed? No. Run off to Hell where it won’t be a problem again? Surely. Did Evelyn promise you that?”

  Sean bobbed his head to the side. “Kind of.”

  “Here’s what she didn’t tell you: If you can see ghosts as well as you can, then chances are you have what it takes to take care of Avery yourself. You just need a little learnin’ and practice.”

  “So can I stay here for a while, so you can teach me? He can’t get to me here, can he?”

  Annabelle didn’t answer. She glanced down at the pack she carried, and then looked back along the game trail upstream. “Let’s worry about Evelyn first. Then we’ll see where things fall.”

  Before Sean could ask another question, Jack said, “Thadeus said something about his daughter. How does he have a daughter here? And why doesn’t he come here himself?”

  “It ain’t like the folks round these parts keep a detailed history. At least, not the ones I have met. From what I gather he comes from this side. I don’t know what he is, but he ain’t human, and he might be immortal. He’s a real boogieman. They call him the Devil in White. He was a real monster, and that’s saying a lot in a land full of monsters. His bloody reign lasted centuries, until some powerful folks and their armies toppled him. They captured him, stripped his power away, and sought out a way to execute him. Before they could do that, he escaped and fled to our side. Even with his powers crippled, he’s more powerful than the greatest witches of our time. But here, he’s cursed, vulnerable, and there are still some powerful folks who are ready to take him on.”

  “Did he leave his daughter behind?”

  “No. She’s younger than that. She’s not as powerful as he used to be, but she’s still the most powerful sorceress around. She went on her own rampage about a century ago. She killed a lot of folks before they captured her. They keep her in a prison in Morgantown.”

  “That’s where I went to school!” Sean said.

  “This side’s Morgantown. They call it Lauris or something like that. At one point, the man in the white suit was trying to get a crossroads to form near there, too. But his daughter fell into a coma about forty some-odd years ago, or so I hear. She’d be dangerous if someone woke her up and broke her out. It would be a disaster if she made it back to our world.”

  They approached the clearing with the crossroads as the sun dipped below the mountains. Annabelle took them to the best vantage point to hide, below the roll of a hill between two trees. As they settled in, Sean asked, “So, if his daughter is younger than his exile, did she come from our world?”

  Annabelle nodded. “Yes. She’s half-human. In fact, she’s kin. My great-great something Aunt Collette’s daughter.” At Jessabelle’s expression of horror, she said, “Yes, our family legacy gets colorful. Now, this witch-bottle is the same as our family used to keep Colette from returning this way if she ever found her way back. If Evelyn gets through, I’ll need y’all to go back and use this. I’ll give you instructions for Jenny to use this to seal up the crossroads from that side. If all else fails, maybe that’ll keep Evelyn from going back with ol’ white-suit’s daughter. At least this way. For a while.”

  Jessabelle said, “What about you?”

  “I’ll be trying to stop her from here.”

  “But you can come back by using the protection song, right?”

  Annabelle shook her head. “No, I’m sorry. I want to meet my other granddaughter. I really do. But there ain’t no secret key for this one. To stop the daughter of the man in the white suit, we’ve got to seal the crossroads from the other side tightly enough that even I can’t pass through. In case I fail.”

  “You mean to kill Evelyn,” Jack said.

  “Absolutely. Just as she means to kill me. I can’t let her wake the sorceress. This won’t stop her forever, but it may delay her for a time. Long enough for folks on this side to catch up to her and stop her.”

  Jessabelle glared. “It ain’t fair! We just found you!”

  Annabelle nodded. “It ain’t fair. It wasn’t fair when I had to step through five years ago. It’s never fair. But it’s got to be somebody, and there ain’t nobody else to do it.”

  The silence stretched for several minutes. Jessabelle turned away from the group, brushing a tear from her cheek. Finally, Jack said, “I reckon Evelyn’s past her deadline by now. Maybe Thadeus sacked her.”

  “But what about Jenny?” Sean asked. Nobody answered.

  Jessabelle sniffed. “Grandma, can I ask a favor?”

  “Of course, Jessabelle.”

  “Can you use that protection song on me?”

  “Sounds like a good idea. But it’ll only last for a couple of hours.”

  “Won’t need to last longer.” Just as Annabelle started to sing the words, Jessabelle changed into a housecat.

  Jenny hadn’t realized she’d dozed off. She awoke to the sound of Evelyn’s cackling laughter. Jenny’s whole body was stiff and sore. Every bump and knob on the tree trunk she was bound to felt like tiny spears pressing against her most vulnerable, bruised spots. The bonds behind her felt looser, but she knew better than to pull against them. At least the sun was behind the mountains, no longer in her eyes.

  “Ah, Jennifer. You had no idea what you were doing, did you?”

  Jenny slowly turned her head toward Evelyn. The witch sat cross-legged a few feet away, with Annabelle’s diary in her lap. Evelyn cackled again. “You were just protecting your friends, weren’t you? Are you even able to cast any other spells? Oh, right, you almost killed me by dispelling my control of the ogre. Otherwise, the four of you would have gone through long before I showed up. ‘Key is Safe Prayer.’ That’s your little prayer of protection, isn’t it? It’s the easy way to go through, without battering down the spell on the other side. Much less exhausting, not to mention faster.”


  Now that Evelyn had solved it, it seemed obvious. Jenny kept her face expressionless. “I don’t know what you are talking about.”

  Evelyn snorted. “Of course not, sweetie. That’s because you’re stupid. Talented, but dumb as a box of rocks.” She stepped forward, holding a thick, long strip of cloth in both hands. “Don’t worry about it. Assuming you survive, maybe one day you’ll find some young man who finds you pretty and endearing, and won’t care that you have nothing upstairs. How are your ankles? Still tied together nicely I hope?”

  Jenny kicked at the bonds around her ankles, but they tightened, like the ones around her wrists.

  Evelyn snorted at her efforts. “Just when I think I may have underestimated your intelligence, you prove me wrong. At least you are predictable. Be glad that Sean is the brains of your little group.”

  Biting retorts had never been Jenny’s strong suit, but she’d learned to at least make an effort to not become a target. “At least I’m not—”

  Jenny didn’t finish. Evelyn swiftly jammed the strip of cloth in her mouth, holding it tight and tying a knot behind Jenny’s head. Jenny struggled in spite of the pain, but she had already lost the fight. Evelyn sighed with a smile on her lips. “Like I said, predictable. This ought to make it a little harder for you to cast any spells while I’m gone. Now, I don’t like killing people, personally. At least not directly. If you’re still alive when I get back, maybe I’ll let you live, and see if you are any more willing to behave rationally. Otherwise, I guess the bugs will have a feast.”

  Evelyn pulled two witch-bottles from a pack. “I did a craft project last night. Simple and crude, but they should work. It should make sure you aren’t disturbed by anyone from the other side while I’m gone. Your grandmother used a spell as a key to bypass the protection. I don’t think I’ll need one, do you? Of course not. I should have plenty of time to remove my own seal on my way back.”