What followed next was nothing short of mind-bending as the flame-haired Connie began to fight, flail, and claw in a wild fury. Her opponent?
Herself.
“Holy shi—” Zoe broke off as Connie snatched a vase off a nearby display and smashed it over her own head.
“She’s possessed. Someone—something—is inside of her! We have to help her.”
But even as I said the words, I knew how ridiculous they sounded. Which her would we even help, and how?
“The fate of the coven relies on you! Damn it, girl, run!” The real Connie’s desperate howl spurred me into action and I lunged for Zoe. She was standing a few feet away next to a display table, seemingly frozen in shock.
“Come on!”
I grabbed her arm and all but dragged her toward the door, trying to block out the grunts and shouting from behind me. For one, surreal moment, as we sprinted down the hallway, I found myself remembering when I thought a buried oil tank was the worst of my problems.
I ran into the door, shoulder first, and we burst into the cool night air, not slowing our pace as we ran down the alleyway.
“I can’t believe it. What the hell was that?” I gasped as we ran. Zoe was lagging behind and I jerked her forward. “We’ve got to call the police now or something. What if that demon or whatever it is kills Connie?”
As much as I didn’t relish the idea of being locked in a padded room, I also couldn’t live with a woman’s death on my conscience. Not with so much other stuff already piling up there…
“Cricket,” Zoe whispered.
“I’ve never seen anything like that. Except maybe in The Exorcist,” I huffed as we rounded the corner out of the alley and onto the street.
“Cricket?” Zoe repeated, her voice dull with shock.
We were just a half a block from my car when she tugged my hand hard and pulled us to a stop. “I have something to tell you.”
“What?” I snapped back impatiently.
She pried away the flashlight still clutched in my free hand and pointed it at her purse, which was gaping open as if it was holding something the size and shape of a human head.
“What the hell is that?” I demanded, my heart hammering as I peered inside. There, nestled among the hair ties and tubes of lip-gloss, lay a small, cast iron pot.
Correction. Not a pot.
A cauldron.
The ramifications of what I was looking at hit me like a one-two punch and I dropped her hand like a hot potato. “Are you freaking kidding me right now?” I demanded, horror rolling over me in waves. “You stole something? From the immortal female possessed by a demon back there?! Please tell me I’m hallucinating right now.”
Zoe wet her lips and shook her head miserably. “I know. I don’t know what happened. One second, I was scared, watching Connie go all Fight Club on herself, and the next, this was calling me, like a siren to a sailor. I couldn’t help it, Crick.”
Crap.
I was still furious, but dang if I didn’t know the feeling.
“I’m so sorry. All I know is that it didn’t seem possible for me to just leave it there,” she said.
“Okay. Okay, we can deal with this,” I muttered, pacing in frantic circles. “I mean, she clearly wanted me to have my typewriter. That’s why she sold it to me at the flea market,” I reasoned, knowing it was thin, but grasping at straws. What were our options at this point? We could hardly ignore Connie #1’s warning to run and go bring it back. “Maybe this was all an elaborate ruse to get us to go into the shop together for you to find your item too. Maybe Connie and her parasitic demon won’t care that we took the cauldron at all. It’s gonna be fine.”
As if on cue, rain loosed from the clouds in wild torrents as a blindingly bright bolt of lightning pierced the night sky, followed by a deafening thunderclap that shook the ground beneath our feet.
But that was nothing compared to the primal shriek of fury that came from Connie’s Curiosities a moment later.
“Get them!”
Chapter 21
Another bolt of lightning filled the sky as we sprang back into motion toward the car that seemed to be getting further away instead of closer. We were both panting as I yanked open the car door and jumped inside. Zoe joined me half a moment later, clinging to her little pot and howling at me.
“Let’s go, Crick! Hurry!”
Her demand was punctuated by another flicker of sickly green lightning and an echoing thunder strike. These ones were much, much closer.
I cranked the key, giving my old reliable Subaru some gas. Come on, baby. Start for Mama.
Click. Click. Grind. Click.
Zoe glared at me, the whites of her eyes larger than life. “What are you doing? START THE DANG CAR, CRICKET!”
I took a breath, trying the key again.
Click.
“It won’t start!”
My cousin gasped and clutched my wrist, sending a bolt of pain up my arm. It only took a second to follow her gaze, and the sight made my blood run cold and my fingers ache.
Connie was heading down the block towards us. But this didn’t look like the Connie I’d first met, or even the Connie I’d tried to badger into telling me about the typewriter. No, this Connie looked utterly terrifying and otherworldly. Her red curls swirled around her head like Medusa snakes, and a sickly green glow emanated from her hands. Not to mention the fact that she wasn’t actually walking at all. She was hovering a good six inches above the sidewalk, and the same gust that made her hair flow in such a magnificent manner was also steadily pushing her towards us.
I tried the car one last time, muttering. “Come on…”
Nada.
Zoe and I looked at each other, both of us yelling, “Go, go, go!” at the same time.
We spilled out of the car, taking off in the opposite direction of Connie. I thought of screaming for help, but the other stores were long-closed and the streets were dead as a ghost-town under the deluge of rain.
As we ran, Zoe grabbed my arm and veered off, pointing to the left. It took a second, but then I caught her drift. Brilliant! We weren’t far from the Rocky Knoll Wildlife Area, a huge park-like area near the edge of town. There were lots of hiking trails and such, plus plenty of places to hide. We’d spent a ton of time there as kids, hunting down caves and fallen logs that we could climb into. For years, me and Zoe were the hide-n-seek champions of Rocky Knoll.
It was a skill I prayed might help me now.
We took a sharp left turn at the next street. Maybe we’d be able to lose Connie even before hitting the woods. She wasn’t moving all that quickly, probably as her inner Connie continued the internal battle, and that lack of speed gave me hope.
I poured it on, legs churning faster. My chest already ached from the exertion, but at least the adrenaline was keeping me from falling over and dying.
Zoe gasped, struggling with her own labored breathing. “This way!” She peered around and grabbed my hand, pulling me to the right and into an alleyway. We dodged and ducked, zigged and zagged, always trying to angle ourselves towards the forest. With every new turn, I couldn’t stop myself from looking back at Connie, who had started gaining on us.
It felt like my chest was going to explode, but we couldn’t stop now. We came out and turned down a side road away from the cobbled lane of shops where a row of tiny houses were visible in the distance. For a second, I considered banging on one of the doors, but then thought better of it. Bringing a demon into someone’s home hardly seemed like the right thing to do. What if there were children present?
We continued to run and Zoe clung to my arm.
I could hear the pain and terror coloring her voice.
“The woods are right there! We need to keep going!”
I lifted my head as a fresh surge of adrenaline hit my chest. Almost there. There wasn’t any guarantee that we’d be able to lose her in the woods but it was better than running out in the open like sitting ducks.
Ok. We could do this. W
e had to do this.
A moment later, through the sheets of rain, I caught sight of the familiar tree-line. There it was. We knew these woods like the back of our hands. I just had to hope that Connie didn’t have that same knowledge.
By the time we ran headlong into the wet vegetation, every muscle was cramping, and we took a moment to lean up against a tree, trying desperately to catch our breath. We weren’t out of the woods yet, so to speak, but if we didn’t stop for a minute, we were both going to pull a Mee-maw and have heart attacks. There was no reason to do Connie’s dirty work for her.
I gasped and inhaled deeply, glancing at Zoe. “Are you okay?” My heart pounded in my ears, and I had to strain to hear her response.
Zoe gave me a dirty look, quirking a brow as she straightened slightly, her voice a low hiss. “Okay? Okay? Crick, do I look okay?”
Well, she had a point there. We were very far from okay. In fact, I had a sneaking suspicion that we were uber screwed here.
I held my breath, straining to hear in the forest around us. Maybe we’d lost her?
“Cricket! Come along now, darling. I just want to talk to you…” The voice that drifted through the woods sounded more like Connie than before, but there was something more there. Something dark and sinister lingering just beneath the surface.
Oh yeah. She wasn’t up to anything at all. Nope. Not her. No way.
Zoe’s eyes were wide and round, and fear poured off her in buckets. She shook her head, her voice barely a whisper. “We’ve got to keep going.”
I nodded, trying to think. “Okay, what if we leave the cauldron? That’s what she’s after anyway, I bet.”
But Zoe was already in motion, head shaking as she began to jog, tugging me beside her. I could already see tears sliding down her cheeks to join the tracks of rain. “You know how powerful the typewriter is. What if the cauldron is just as powerful? I can’t do that, Crick. We can’t do that. If we are two of the coven, we have to protect the items at all cost. This isn’t just about us. This is bigger than us.”
She was right, and I knew it. But damn if I had any idea where we were running to. Was there any place where we’d be safe from Connie and whatever inhabited her body? She obviously had some magic, but clearly not enough to just blast us dead or knock us out from a distance. If she did, she’d have used it by now. We just needed to get someplace safe to regroup. Then, we’d get Mee-maw, my typewriter, and skip town, just like the real Connie had said to.
Shoring up my mental reserves, I laced my hand through Zoe’s and we took off again. We didn’t even need to say anything—we both knew where to go. If any place in here was safe, it would be our cave, the one we’d named Hawthorne’s Hobbit Hole. It wasn’t much, little more than a hole in the ground hidden by a massive pile of deadfall, but it was damn near impossible to find if you didn’t know what you were looking for.
We zigged and zagged through the trees, but I could tell Connie was still coming for us. I could practically feel the malevolence filling the air, dark and sinister.
Just when I was starting to think that I’d taken a wrong zig somewhere along the way, the deadfall swam up in front of us.
Zoe let out a long breath of relief, scrambling up the deadfall. We probably both looked utterly ridiculous, two ladies in their forties mountain-goating it up the sodden pile of branches. If someone had asked me a month ago if I could come close to managing this, I probably would have laughed in their face, but adrenaline and terror were strong motivators.
Once we reached the middle of the deadfall, Zoe let out a quiet, triumphant sound. She pushed some branches out of the way and immediately started wiggling into the space left. Oh, this was going to be a tight squeeze.
After some maneuvering, we were both crouched down into the tiny hole. There was barely enough space for me, Zoe, and the purse she held clutched to her chest like it was her beloved pet.
Now that we weren’t running anymore, I could finally try to focus on catching my breath again. The burning in my lungs was definitely cause for concern, and if we survived this, I vowed to start running and get into shape.
“Okay, this is good. Maybe we’ll be safe in here,” Connie breathed against my ear.
I could hear the imminent freak-out in her voice. Hell, I wasn’t doing any better. But this definitely was not the best time or place for a meltdown.
Before I could try to talk her down, Connie’s voice once again carried over the wind and rain, filling me with a deep-seated dread.
“Come along, darling girl. You can’t fight fate.”
She was starting to sound impatient, which was a good sign. She knew we were in the forest, but clearly not where.
But my hopes were dashed again and the sound of a low male voice crackled over some sort of walkie-talkie type device.
“We’ve got it now, Ma’am. We’re going to work it like a grid. Alpha squad will take the northeastern quadrant. Beta squad, northwest, then we all move south. We’re just bringing out the dogs now.”
Grid?
Squads?
Dogs???
Oh, this was bad. This was real, real bad.
“It’s about time you showed up. I need to exit the host and replenish my strength. I trust you can handle this without me?”
The voice crackled to life again. “Certainly, Ma’am.”
“They haven’t gotten far,” Connie said. “Don’t worry about the one with the cauldron. I’ll find her later, when her time has come. We need the one with the scarf, boys.”
A second voice, this one more like tires over gravel, grumbled. “Roger that. We’ll find her.”
Zoe and I exchanged wide-eyed looks as she jerked her chin pointedly at the black scarf I had hanging loosely around my neck. So it wasn’t the cauldron they were after. They wanted me. But why? They could’ve taken me any number of times over the past couple weeks. And I didn’t even have the typewriter in my possession.
More confused than ever, I wracked my brain for some plan of action. We could hide from a crazed, half-possessed Connie, maybe. But from what seemed like an army of mercenaries with dogs to boot? Impossible. If we stayed in this area, they’d find us eventually, no matter how well hidden the tiny cave was.
A look of determination passed over Zoe’s face and my stomach dropped as she snatched the scarf from around my neck, swiftly winding it around her own.
“On the count of three, I’ll get out and run north. You go south, try to make it to the road and flag down a ride before they find you,” Zoe hissed quietly. “Call Mee-maw and tell her to go to a hotel. Then, toss your phone out the window and take that ride as far away as you can. Don’t contact either one of us until you have a burner phone.”
She was still whispering in hushed tones when I cut her off, shaking my head rapidly. “Uh uh. No way. I’m not leaving you out here! Give me the scarf, Zoe.”
“You heard it. It’s not my time, whatever that means. They don’t want me. If I can distract them and buy you some time…”
Yet. They didn’t want her yet. Zoe had conveniently left that little tidbit out. And just because they didn’t want her didn’t mean they would let her go.
I hesitated, shaking my head stubbornly, sick to my stomach. We had no idea what these people wanted, and no idea what they might do to her if they caught her.
“It’s my fault this happened in the first place. I took the cauldron. For whatever reason, that changed everything. Connie or her inner demon went from trying to get us to leave the shop to hunting us down like vermin. You need to go, now. Get out of here, get in touch with our grandmother and get her out of that house. That’s the next logical place for them to go if they want leverage.” I was about to argue further, despite the fear her words invoked, but she held up a hand. “Samwise Gamgee.”
With that, she shimmied out of the hole even as I tried to drag her back in.
“I love you, Crick.”
My heart squeezed in my chest as she shimmied from my grasp. A second
later, I could hear her creeping around on top of the deadfall, and then a slightly louder sound as she started crashing off toward the road. She’d get there eventually, but it wasn’t nearly as busy as the one I was heading towards.
If Connie and her minions didn’t catch her first, of course.
As Zoe’s crashing through the woods faded, I had to resist the urge to run after her. I couldn’t let this risk be for nothing. I took a couple of deep breaths, sliding out of the cave and creeping towards the east. More thunder crashed through the forest, but it was further away now, and I could hear the sound of dogs barking in the distance.
She was right. They were following Zoe. Even Connie was lurching in the direction as she let out choking coughs and gasps. I was just about to break into a run when she wheeled around and caught sight of me.
“Thank the Goddess! Go, girl! Quickly,” she managed in a harsh whisper. The fury was gone, leaving behind only an exhausted, fearful looking Connie. Whatever had been inside her seemed to be gone now, but I resisted the urge to stop and help her. I needed to make sure my grandmother was safe or the guilt would haunt me forever.
With a heavy heart and a nod of thanks, I broke into a run. My side immediately started aching again, the cramps doubling on themselves, but I had to keep going. Had to get to the road, find some help…
I stumbled up a small rise, blinking in shock when the highway swam before my eyes. A small thrill of triumph ran through me, taking the edge off some of the panic and terror.
I’d made it to the road. Just then, the sound of dogs barking rent the air, too close for comfort. I gasped and spun around, glaring back into the forest to see the glare of flashlights moving through the trees.
I forced my soaked feet into motion, dashing across the highway. I’d gotten halfway when a car came careening around the corner like a bat out of hell, the set of headlights blinding me. I quickened my pace, but my toe caught on a loose chunk of pavement, and I toppled to the ground like I’d been shot by an unseen sniper. Tires squealed as I pinched my eyes closed.
Yep, this is it. This is the way I die.
Writing Wrongs: Crow’s Feet Coven, Book One Page 17