Blood Creek Witch Page 10

  After carefully removing the lid on the jar, Hattie handed it to Jenny. “Let’s start out by having you drink this. It won’t taste good. You don’t have to drink the whole thing. A few sips ought to do.”

  Jenny tasted the liquid and made a sour face. “What is this stuff?”

  “It’s good for what ails you,” Hattie replied. “Just trust me on this.” Jenny forced down a few more sips, and Hattie began to sing softly.

  Fever a-falling, bones are a-mending

  Itching and ailing relieve you

  Blood run pure, skin mend up, limbs regain strength

  Sickness shall no more aggrieve you

  The young man watched Hattie intently. Jack asked Jessabelle, “So who’s your new friend?”

  Blinking, the young man turned to Jack. “Oh, sorry. Hi. I’m Sean Williams. I’m, uh, new here. Just visiting.”

  Jack snorted. “Yeah, I kind of figured.”

  Jessabelle frowned. “He was with that new lady, Evelyn. She stopped the ogre. We think she’s a witch. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier, but I didn’t want… questions.” She glanced furtively at Sean.

  “Another witch?”

  Sean asked, “Are there a lot of those here?”

  Jack shook his head. “Not normally. I mean, everyone knows about Hattie, but not everyone…” He was going to say, ‘not everyone believes her,’ but that felt like a terrible thing to say. “Not everyone takes advantage of it.”

  At the couch, Hattie told Jenny, “Okay, see if you can turn around. Let’s get a look at that shoulder.”

  Jenny winced as she turned on the couch. Hattie examined the wound, and said, “Okay, let’s clean it up. If we can get it taped up and keep it from getting infected, you may not need stitches. That healing juice will do most of the work for us.” She looked at Sean and Jack. “Okay. Men, for modesty’s sake y’all go into the bedroom for a few minutes while we disinfect and bandage up Jenny’s shoulder, alright?”

  Sean and Jack made their way down a short hall, passing two tiny bedrooms and a hall closet, and found the master bedroom. There wasn’t much room to walk between the bed and the furniture. Photographs in cheap frames covered most of the available wall space. Flat surfaces were filled with things that Jack would consider “old lady knick-knacks,” and some other items that were particularly strange and even disturbing. A cat’s skull, decorated with strange runes, topped a shelf and the list of bizarre items. Others included crystals dangling from chains, hand-written books, creepy-looking hand-made dolls, and pendants of various religious symbols.

  Sean ignored the stranger items, searching over the array of photographs. He stopped at one, peering carefully at it, and then announced, “It’s her!”

  “It’s who?” asked Jack.

  “This girl. That’s Debra Arnot.” He pointed at a young woman in the grainy photo. It had been taken in the living room, albeit with a different couch in the background. Three women stood in the photograph. The one in the center, probably no older than Jack or Sean, held a baby in her arms. The woman to her right was older, probably her mother, and resembled Hattie. The girl to her left seemed her same age or a couple of years younger. Sean pointed emphatically at the younger girl.

  Jack looked at Sean. “How do you know her? That picture’s got to be fifty years old.”

  “Take a look!” Sean activated his phone and pulled up a black-and-white photograph from a newspaper scan. The girl on Sean’s phone bore a strong resemblance to the girl in Annabelle’s photograph. “Debbie was a student at WVU in 1974. She was murdered that year.”

  “Huh. You kin?”

  Sean shook his head, and thumbed up a different picture. In the blurry color photograph, Sean and a girl in cat make-up stood together at some party. In spite of the blurriness and the make-up, the girl looked a lot like the one Sean called Debbie.

  Jack compared the photos, and then looked at Sean. “How old did you say you were?”

  Sean put the phone away. “My roommate took that picture last Halloween. She looked and felt plenty real that night. I’m not the only one who has seen her. But I saw her, talked to her, and spent time with her.”

  “So was she a ghost, or just a girl who looked a lot like Debra?”

  Sean shrugged. “Ghost, I’m pretty sure. I couldn’t find her afterward. All I found was my jacket that she’d been wearing. All folded up at the place she used to live.”

  Jack whistled. “So is this why you came here?”

  Sean nodded. “Yes. I wanted to find Annabelle, or anyone who could help me understand what’s going on.”

  “This day keeps getting weirder and weirder.”

  “Tell me about it! It’s crazy, I know.”

  “The crazy part is that ain’t even the weirdest thing I’ve seen today.”

  The young men returned to find Jenny wearing a clean shirt. Tape along the edge of the bandage on her shoulder peeked out from under the collar. Hattie held up the Mason jar and asked, “Anyone else in need of the tonic? There are few sips left.”

  “Like a potion?” asked Sean.

  Hattie nodded. “Much like.”

  “Why not just give the rest of it to Jenny? It looks like she needs it.”

  “Too much of a good thing. Same thing with medicine, but in this case, she just needs enough to get the magic to take. What she needs now is time and rest. We don’t have much of either right now. The sun’s getting low, and the snallygaster is likely to come out after too long. If it has our scent, it might be hankering for a rematch. We need to leave as soon as she’s able to walk.”

  Jack couldn’t help but think of Sam being snatched away in the darkness, too surprised to even make a noise as he flew through the air. “Does it do that? Would it hunt one of us down like that?”

  Hattie’s eyes darted between Jenny and Jack. “It might.”

  Jenny had caught the look. “And by one of us, you mean me. I’m the one that threatened it.”

  Jack shook his head. “If it tries for any of us, it’ll face all of us. I promise.”

  Jessabelle frowned. “I just don’t see why we don’t all stay here through the night, though. Let Jenny get some sleep, and head out in the morning.”

  Sean spoke up. “I’m okay with staying the night.”

  Jessabelle nodded. “Thanks. Wait, when did you get a vote?”

  “I can think of three reasons,” Hattie said. “The most important is the risk of that wound getting infected. That happens and we will need to take Jenny down to a real doctor, maybe in a hurry. I’d rather not do that in the middle of the night from up here. Secondly, this house probably isn’t much protection right now. All y’all broke the protection on it by opening the door. Not that I blame y’all for that. Considering what the snallygaster did to the roof of the Casto’s barn, I wouldn’t want to rely on this place for shelter without any chance of getting help.”

  Hattie stood up, and then said, “Now, I’m going to find some of my mama’s old things to take with us and then we’ll go.”

  Jack might not have done so well in school, but he could count to three. “Wait, Hattie. That was two reasons. You said you had three.”

  She looked at him seriously. “You’re right. I did.” Then she walked away down the hallway toward the master bedroom.

  After she’d left the room, Sean asked, “Um, sorry if this is a stupid question, but what’s a snallygaster?”

  Jack looked to Jessabelle, but she had her arms crossed and her mouth closed. Jenny didn’t seem to be volunteering anything either. So, Jack answered simply. “Sort of a dragon with tentacles on its tail. It killed Sam Colton last night, and probably killed Grace Alls a few days ago. It attacked us, but we drove it off.”

  Sean absorbed this news with an expressionless face, staring off at nothing for a few moments. Then he shrugged and said, “Huh. Okay then.”

  Hattie returned from the bedroom a few minutes later, with two books under her arm. She stuffed these into her backpack. Sean asked to
borrow the photograph he’d found in the bedroom. She looked at him strangely. “Why would you want a photograph of my family?”

  “Research,” he answered. “I’d just like to make a quality copy of and I’ll return it to you. Um, do you know the other girl in that picture?”

  Hattie peered at it. Behind her, Jenny craned her neck to get a look, but then winced and settled back on the couch, smoothing out the tape holding the bandage in place. “No, not really. I think she and my mama were friends before I was born, but she died a little after that.”

  “That’s all you know?”

  “That’s all we have time for. Jenny, how’s your ankle feeling?”

  Jenny stood up awkwardly, and tentatively put some weight on her foot. “It’s better! I don’t think I want to run on it, but it barely hurts.”

  “We just need everyone to hold up until we get back to the house. The sun sets fast up here, but hopefully that snallygaster isn’t an early riser.”

  Hattie ushered everyone out, and closed the door behind them. She sang something that sounded only half English, and then nodded with a satisfied look.

  “What did you do?” Jenny asked.

  “I’m reinforcing your grandma’s spell. At least I hope I am. It’s not something I can do from scratch. Those three silver nails make it hard to notice, especially for a witch or someone of witch blood.”

  “Why hide it?” Jack asked.

  Hattie hesitated. “She has secrets she didn’t want anyone to stumble over. Like in those books I just took. But that’s why y’all ought to forget that the place is here. Now let’s get going.” She and the girls started forward. Jenny favored her uninjured ankle.

  Jack looked over his shoulder. He could still see the house just fine. Maybe now the protection only worked against witches. Maybe Hattie only succeeded in hiding it from herself. If so, it was not the most useful trick.

  Sean lingered, searching around the clearing as if he lost something. Jack called to him. “Hey, you coming?”

  Sean nodded. “Yeah, I’m coming.” He turned and hurried to rejoin the girls.

  They continued along the narrow path, soon merging with the ogre’s destructive trail. Jenny’s limp slowed the group, but at least she could walk, thanks to Hattie’s treatment. Sean and Jack took turns supporting her over the rougher parts of the trail. Jessabelle grew more sullen each time, regardless of which boy assisted. Jenny even caught her making a disgusted face when Jenny stumbled and Jack nearly dropped his shotgun to rush to her aid.

  She wanted to scream at her cousin, “They are just helping me walk! It doesn’t mean anything! Next time, you can be the one to sprain your ankle!” But even as she thought that, she grudgingly conceded she enjoyed the attention. She didn’t want her cousin mad at her. “Jessabelle…” she called.

  Jessabelle turned with her finger to her lips. At first Jenny thought her cousin was merely being grumpy again, but then she saw Jessabelle’s terrified look. Jessabelle waved her other hand in a motion to stop. After a moment of confusion, everyone stood still, glancing around with various levels of nervousness. Sean seemed about to ask a question, but shut his mouth as Jessabelle shook her finger in front of her lips.

  The sun sat low behind the mountains, extending deep shadows, but it wasn’t dark yet. They were almost out of the woods and into relative civilization, but they all knew the snallygaster wasn’t the only creature to haunt the woods.

  “What is it?” Jack whispered, nervously gripping the shotgun.

  Jessabelle shook her head as she focused her attention at the treetops. Her head swiveled back and forth, and she ducked down into a semi-crouch. “It’s here,” she whispered.

  “It’s not dark yet,” Jenny whispered back.

  Jack raised the shotgun toward the sky. “Early bird gets the worm?”

  Jenny shuddered at the mental image of one of them being pulled from the ground like a worm in the creature’s mouth. Hattie pulled her to the side and whispered to the group, “Move to the trees! Don’t let it swoop down on you!”

  A dull pain rose from Jenny’s ankle as Hattie propelled her toward the nearest tree, rather than the lance of agony she felt earlier. The pain reminded her that failure was a single misstep away. Sean followed suit, hiding beside Jenny and Hattie as Jack and Jessabelle ducked behind another tree. “What is it?” Sean whispered.

  “Snallygaster,” Jenny answered.

  “Seriously? The dragon-thing?”

  Hattie and Jenny nodded. Hattie put her finger to her lips.

  They waited for several tense seconds. Jessabelle crouched, appearing catlike even in her human form. Jenny could almost imagine her tail twitching as she scanned the sky. Jack searched for a target, shotgun held at the ready. Jenny leaned against the tree. Her hand itched as a bug crawled over it, but she didn’t dare brush it away.

  Sean leaned in closer to Hattie. “Is it gone?”

  Hattie shook her head. “I don’t know,” she whispered back. “We can’t stay here forever.”

  Jenny listened. She heard nothing, not even the insects. “I think it’s still here.”

  The forest top exploded above them. A half-ton of flesh, wings, and teeth pounded into the ground a few yards away. In a flash, the snallygaster charged forward, snapping with its tremendous fangs. Hattie pushed Jenny down, protecting her with her own body. The beast caught Hattie’s backpack in its jaws and lifted her off the ground.

  Jenny stood, reciting her mother’s spell. The creature hurled Hattie into a tree and faced Jenny, hunched down in a fighting crouch. Jenny took a confident step forward, and the creature backed away, cautious. Jenny continued to recite the song, feeling its strength around her.

  It attacked with blinding speed. The first hit met with a blaze of light that engulfed Jenny. It continued its assault relentlessly, striking again and again in the space of heartbeats. Jenny reeled backwards, focusing on the song. She felt the power in her words bolstering her protective shield, but not enough to keep up with the monster’s barrage.

  She sensed the protection faltering as the beast launched forward on its four tentacle tails. Feeble protective light, the last reserves of her spell saved her from being caught between its teeth, but the force of the attack knocked her back. She tumbled backwards as the snallygaster shrieked in victory, coiling for a final pounce.

  Jack’s shotgun roared with sound and flame, and the creature’s left eye disintegrated in smoke and blood. It whirled toward Jack, mouth opened wide as it changed targets. Jack fired again, directly into its open mouth.

  The beast collapsed, thrashing and flailing. Its tails flew wildly, smashing into trees and tearing up the ground. Jack pulled Jenny free of the deadly lashing of the dying monster, while Sean did the same for Hattie.

  Once clear of the snallygaster’s death throes, Jack reloaded the shotgun. He reapproached the monster as its flailing weakened. Jack fired into its head, ending all motion but for some tiny muscle spasms along its tails.

  Jenny attempted to stand, but pain from revived injuries put an end to that plan. Even that wasn’t enough to dampen her jubilation. “You killed it, Jack!”

  Jessabelle and Sean looked at Jack with unconcealed awe. Sean took a step toward the creature, but Jack held up a hand and said, “Hold up!” Jack stepped around the front of the creature, took aim, and sent a final blast of the shotgun into what was left of its head. Looking back at Jenny, he said, “I’ve seen the horror movies. You always want to shoot it one more time after you think it’s dead.”

  “Guys?” Jessabelle called out. “I think Aunt Hattie’s hurt really bad.”

  Blood soaked the left side of Hattie’s head. Her eyes were closed, and her breathing shallow. They crowded around her and tried to wake her up. Nothing worked.

  “We have to get her to a hospital,” Sean said. “Where’s the nearest one?”

  Jack shook his head. “An hour or so down the road, once we get her to the truck.”

  Tears welled up in Jenny
’s eyes, which she wiped away with the back of her hand. This was her fault. Hattie came to save her from her own stupidity, and now things were worse. Part of her wanted to crawl someplace by herself and cry, wait for someone else to come and put their arms around her, protect her, and make everything better. She wanted her mother. She wanted none of this to have happened, to never have known about witches or monsters or houses that hid from plain sight.

  Somebody else would come. Someone had to have heard the noise, the roaring of the monster, the shots from Jack’s gun. Someone would come and fix this mess.

  She looked around at the others. They all looked confused, glancing at each other, waiting for someone else to come up with a plan. Her aunt lay unconscious, and in real danger. She had been their rescue. Jenny’s parents were gone. Nobody else would ride in to make everything better. She sniffed and wiped her eyes again. “Does anybody here know first aid?”

  Sean shrugged. “A little. I got a first aid merit badge as a Boy Scout.”

  Somehow, the idea of Sean in a Boy Scout uniform fit. “Okay. Do what you can. Especially the bleeding from her head. Didn’t she have more of that juice she gave me?”

  Jessabelle nodded. “It’s in her pack. But she can’t drink it right now.”

  “I know.”

  They removed Hattie’s backpack. The snallygaster’s bite had torn a hole in it, but nothing else seemed damaged. Sean took off his shirt to use as a bandage for Hattie’s head, holding it against the gash to stop the bleeding. Jenny dug out the Mason jar buried with Jenny’s bloodstained clothing, a first aid kit, and a number of books Hattie had rescued from the house. She handed the kit to Sean.

  Jessabelle asked, “Is there anything you can do to help her?”