Blood Creek Witch Read online

  She looked at Hattie. “What happened to it?”

  Hattie’s eyes were wide. “It worked. It worked as well as anytime mama made it, as far as I can tell. When you have it memorized and can sing it from your heart, maybe you’ll even exceed her.”

  Jenny told herself it didn’t matter, but she couldn’t help feeling a thrill of excitement. “Why did it turn blue?”

  “Blue? I don’t know what… oh! That must be how you are seeing it. That’s the Sight again, Jenny. Like seeing the ghost in the church, you are seeing the magic take hold of the juice. I sense it, but I’m not as attuned. It’s more of a tingle for me, like the static on clothes coming out of the drier. I can sometimes see a glow for really strong magic, like the kind your mom could do.”

  “But you can see the woman in the church just fine.”

  Hattie nodded, and screwed the lid onto the jar. “Yeah, I can see ghosts just fine. Magic, not so much. For some, it’s the other way around. And some people—usually the most powerful witches—are really well attuned, and can see or hear even a small amount of magic at a distance, or smell it and track it like a bloodhound. I don’t know, but I suspect that’s why your mama avoided using it.”

  The phone rang. Hattie got up to answer it. Jenny stared at the Mason jar. It still glowed, not as brightly as a luminescent light-stick, but visible even in the daylight streaming through the windows. She touched the glass of the jar, and she felt that static-electricity tingle along her hand. How was any of this even possible? She didn’t want this ability.

  “How serious is it?” Hattie asked, catching Jenny’s attention. She waited. After a few moments, Hattie said, “We’ll be right there,” and then hung up the phone.

  “What’s going on?” Jenny asked.

  “Grab the juice, Jenny. We’re going to need to test it out sooner than I imagined.”

  Sean hadn’t trusted setting the alarm on his phone for fear it would wake up Evelyn. He awakened several times during the night, rolling over and waiting for a better moment to make a run for it.

  But to where? His best bet was to leave town, although as soon as Evelyn awoke she would be able to find him hiking along the road. Going completely away from the roads he would risk getting lost again and getting nowhere fast. She said she was good at finding people. How hard would she search for him?

  And of course, leaving meant abandoning his quest to find Debbie. Or maybe not. Perhaps he could find her on the anniversary of their other two meetings, at the university.

  But before any of that, he had to find someone else who could help him against Avery. Unless the ghost was bluffing, it could find him anywhere he ran. Sooner or later, it would catch him, and it would kill him with that freaky purple knife. Sean had about two weeks to find a solution.

  Maybe he’d try Hattie’s first. She had no reason to help him, but they had fought the snallygaster together. Well, okay, Sean had watched while others fought the snallygaster, but he’d been there. Maybe that was enough to earn some small measure of compassion.

  He silently put his clothes on, but not his shoes. He tiptoed down the hall in his socks, toward the front door. He reached out to grasp the doorknob, but then stopped. Something was wrong. Barely visible in the dim of the pre-dawn light, a faint blue glow surrounding the doorknob.

  He peered at it more closely. The glow emanated from a tiny circle of woven leaves and stems tied around the spindle where it met the door. He had no idea what the charm was supposed to do, and didn’t want to find out. He had to find a back door.

  “It won’t hurt you,” Evelyn’s voice came from the living room. Sean whirled. The room had been empty a moment ago. From the couch, she reached up with a lazy motion and switched the lamp on.

  How he’d missed seeing her, even in the dark, he didn’t know. She’d caught him sneaking out, and there was no point in playing stupid. “What is it?”

  She stretched on the couch. “An alarm. Its real purpose was to see if you’d notice it. It looks like you can see magic as well as ghosts.”

  “And since I can?”

  “A well-developed Sight is a marker for a potential witch. You may be special. There are not many males in our profession.”

  “What? Come on, I’m no witch.”

  “Have you tried?”

  It was a stupid question. Sean raised his hand, hovering over the doorknob. Had she lied about it? Was it dangerous?

  “I could compel you to stay, you know,” she said.

  He let his hand drop, and glared at her. “That’s what it sounded like you were doing last night.”

  She matched him glare for glare. “I told you I’d fix the problem. And I promised to help you with yours. All this after I saved your life. I would expect some level of gratitude and an appreciation of my power!”

  Sean clenched his fists. She was right, but that didn’t mean he had to like it. In a flat monotone, he said, “Okay. Thank you for not letting the ogre eat me. That was kind of you. You have amazing powers.”

  She rolled her eyes. “I suppose that is the best I’m going to get from you for now. I was your age not that long ago, and I remember how it was. Look, I’m trying to sweeten the pot for you. You have potential. I’d like to help you realize it.”

  “You aren’t going to teach me to ride a broomstick, are you?”

  She was silent for a moment, and then cracked a smile. “No. You wouldn’t like it. It’s very uncomfortable.”

  Sean snorted. “Okay. Why?”

  “Why do I want to teach you? Because things are about to change around here, and when it does I’m going to be an extremely busy woman. I’ll need help, and I’d rather it be someone I choose and can rely on.”

  He’d heard it before. His father repeated things like this, and Sean knew the code. What dear old dad really wanted was to keep Sean under his thumb, Evelyn wasn’t different. Instead of access to his trust fund, Evelyn wanted access to whatever power she thought he had.

  Maybe it was a fair trade, if she really could teach him. He didn’t want to lead a life of stopping monsters in their tracks or banishing vengeful ghosts, but maybe life had other plans for him. Those kinds of abilities could have other applications.

  Someone with those kinds of abilities could have saved Debbie.

  “What changes?”

  “Sorry?”

  “You said there’d be changes. What kind of changes?”

  She waved her hand vaguely in the direction of the mountainside where they’d encountered the ogre. “Where do you think those monsters came from, Sean?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “We’re going to find out. And we’re going to make sure that no more monsters are going to stumble into town and start killing people.”

  “We?”

  “You and me.”

  Obviously, she wasn’t telling him everything. What she had said so far sounded good. Probably too good. She had an angle, and he’d never forget how she’d treated him at the church ruins. However, until Avery was banished forever, and Sean had found Debbie, he might as well play along.

  “Okay, let’s say that, in theory, I agreed to help you. What would I have to do?”

  “Long-term? You’d be my right-hand man.”

  “Short-term? Like, today?”

  “I don’t know yet. I’m on a tight deadline, so for the next three days, just don’t go too far. Or get yourself killed. Maybe I’ll have you run errands for me.”

  “What happens in three days?”

  “That’s my deadline. My boss shows up Tuesday evening. He’ll either be really happy with me, or really pissed off. I think things would go better for both of us if he’s happy. Keep your ears open.”

  “For what?”

  “Mainly, for anything you might hear about Annabelle Rose.”

  Hattie stopped the truck near a mobile home that looked like it had sturdy, but not-quite-code, extensions added to it. She turned to Jenny. “Hand me the juice. I’ll be a few minutes while we decid
e if we need to take Jack to the hospital or not. You find Jessabelle. I’m worried about her.”

  “Why? Did they attack her too?”

  “Not that I know. But, Jack wanted me to check up on her. I’d bet my garden that if Mason was involved, she’s freaking out.”

  “Do they have a history?”

  “Mason’s got a history. He was always an equal opportunity bully even before his teens, but he took a darker turn later. He scared the crap out of Jessabelle. If George had still been alive… well, he wouldn’t have tolerated any of that.”

  Jenny nodded. “I’ll find her.”

  Hattie offered a supportive smile. “You remember where we dropped her off? It’s the place with red paneling up yonder. If I’m not done by the time you fetch her, bring her on over to Walter’s.”

  They split up. Jenny made her way toward her cousin’s home, and knocked on the door. No one answered, but Jessabelle appeared from around the corner of the house. Her wan face lacked expression, and bits of weeds and dirt covered her loose clothes. Her hair and skin were immaculate. With a flat voice, she said, “My mama went down to Branton after church. Oh, and Jack got beaten up.”

  “We know. Aunt Hattie’s here to take care of him. I’m looking for you. Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, they left me alone, never even saw me.” Emotion began to return to her eyes. “Mason and Alan are bad news. Really bad news, Jenny. After fighting Jack they went back to Mason’s and grabbed some beers. They’ll be worse now.”

  “You could call the cops.”

  “Cops don’t like to come up here.”

  “So?”

  “So what will they do? Them two will claim Jack started it. They’ll all get yelled at. And then they’ll be full of more spite than ever.”

  “You want to come back to our place? If your mom isn’t home, maybe it would be best.”

  Jessabelle nodded. The two of them followed the dirt road down to Walter’s, just in time to see two young men hovering near Hattie’s truck. “That’s them!” Jessabelle said. Jenny saw the biggest of the two unfolding a blade. She ran toward them.

  The one with the knife had already squatted down near Hattie’s front tire when Jenny got close. His companion slapped him on the shoulder, and he stood and turned to face her. She slowed, only then realizing that she’d once again disappointed her mother and raced headlong into trouble. The young man didn’t bother putting away the knife, or taking the cigarette out of his mouth before he said, “What have we here?”

  Jenny was at a loss for words, staring at the knife. The smaller of the two said, “Hey Mason, I think she’s that new girl who lives with Hattie Rose.”

  Mason smiled, looking up. “Oh, and here comes little Jess. Things just got interesting.” At this angle, Jenny saw the bruising around his eye and the swelling around his lip. At least Jack had given as well as taken.

  Jenny forced her breathing to be deep and regular, as she’d been taught in her martial arts classes. Mason’s size was a problem even without the knife. She’d drilled hundreds of times against other students with rubber knives, some even larger than Mason, but it was another thing to be in a real confrontation. This could turn ugly fast. She didn’t want to start singing and acting aggressive just yet. “Please don’t do it,” she said simply.

  The other man, Alan, glanced guiltily at the tires of the car. Mason shrugged. “Do what?” he said, grinning around the cigarette.

  Jenny said nothing. Mason pulled the cigarette out of his mouth and flicked it at her. It landed several feet short. “You should have been in church, little girl. Preacher had all kinds of things to say about witches like Hattie. You ought to think about going back home.”

  “This is my home, and I’m not going anywhere.” She couldn’t control the quaver in her voice, but the sentence gave her a tiny bit more confidence. “Hattie is my aunt. Please leave her truck alone.”

  Mason grinned, and looked sideways at Alan. Alan offered a feeble smile in response. He stared at Jenny. “Or what?”

  “If you know she’s a witch, you ought to know it’s probably not very smart to anger her.”

  “What’s she going to do about it? Turn me into a frog?”

  “Don’t be stupid. But someday, probably soon the way things have been, you may need her help. Do you really want to be the guy who slashed her tires?”

  The smile on Mason’s face faded by a few degrees, but he recovered. “I ain’t never gonna need help from any witch. But maybe you will.” He advanced, casually holding the knife at his side.

  He started the aggression. Jenny didn’t want to escalate it or back down now, but her heart raced. This could not, should not, be happening. A few days ago, she would have turned and fled, or at least she’d never have tried to stop him. She glanced down at the knife. “What you are doing right now could get you a year in prison.”

  He raised the knife, twisting it casually in the air. “You mean this? Does this make you nervous?”

  “Yes, it does. Using it in an attack will get you two to five years, automatically.”

  He sneered and folded the knife closed, sliding it back into his pocket. “Who’s attacking? We’re just talking, ain’t we? Just havin’ a little conversation.” He took two more steps forward. She caught the whiff of cheap beer, and raised her hands in a defensive stance. He looked her up and down and said, “What is that, kung-fu? You a kung-fu ninja, little girl?”

  Jenny said nothing, staring at him, hoping her muscle memory would work. She found her mother’s prayer in her head once more. Though the effects were subtle without her singing out loud, she felt some safety. She got in a fight with an ogre and a snallygaster this week, for crying out loud! She could deal with some hick douchebags.

  She stared directly into his eyes, calm in her stance, thinking of all of the drills she’d gone through in her classes. Even if she lost, Mason would not come out of this unscathed.

  Alan shook his head. “Hey, Mason, we’re wasting our time here.”

  Mason sneered at Jenny again. “Alright. You’re right. We ain’t got time for this shit. We were just talking, anyway.” He took a couple of steps backwards, his eyes watching her a bit too warily for a casual departure, and they left.

  Jessabelle drew close. When the boys were out of sight and earshot, Jenny slumped against the truck. Her hands began shaking. “Look at me,” she muttered. “I’m a mess. I don’t think I shook so hard after the snallygaster. I’m such a scaredy-cat.”

  “Are you pullin’ my leg?” Jessabelle asked. “That was one of the bravest things I’ve ever seen! You just went and faced down Mason, like it was nothing! I don’t remember seeing him back down like that before.”

  “I probably made an enemy for life. That wasn’t smart.” Jenny looked over at the truck tire and said, “At least I saved the tires. Does that make me a hero?”

  Jack rolled his arm, feeling how much it had healed since this afternoon. He accidentally bumped Hattie’s tiny dining table where they were all gathered, causing Jenny’s precariously-balanced fork to bounce off her plate and onto the floor.

  “Hey, I wasn’t done using that!” she teased as she recovered it. Jack felt his face flush.

  Jessabelle grinned at Jenny. “I ain’t seen you eat a bite in the last five minutes. I think you were done.”The air conditioner whined as it failed to keep up with the evening heat, four people, and the oven. In spite of the higher-than-comfortable temperature, the smell of roasted chicken and freshly cooked vegetables filled the air. Everyone seemed playful after the day’s trauma.

  Jack felt more at home than he did in his own house. He made more subtle motions as he flexed his shoulder. “My arm’s feeling better now. That healing juice worked great.”

  Hattie nodded. “I don’t see any more swelling around your eye. I guess we can call Jenny’s first healing juice a success.” She passed a serving plate to him. “More chicken, Jack?”

  He hesitated, but his hunger won out. The healing juice ma
y have done amazing work, but he was starving. Was that a side-effect?

  Hattie continued. “You kids got plans for tomorrow?”

  Jack and Jessabelle glanced at each other briefly. Jessabelle said nothing. Jack devoured his chicken with gusto.

  Jenny shrugged.

  Hattie focused on Jack. She knew his weakness. “Planning anything?”

  He didn’t feel like evading. “Jessabelle and I were talking about trying to find out where them monsters are coming from. And maybe where that ogre is hidden.”

  Jessabelle scowled. Hattie’s face was a blank mask. Jenny stared at him with wide eyes.

  Jack shrugged, and devoted his attention to the remaining chicken to avoid eye contact. Hattie turned her gaze to Jessabelle. “I would have thought you’d have learned your lesson by now. We’re all lucky to be alive. How much luck do you think you got?”

  Jessabelle started to say something, but then deflated, staring into her lap. Jack said, “We ain’t planning on fighting anything.”

  “And what good would that do?”

  Jenny jumped in to the rescue. “It would be good to know what’s going on, wouldn’t it? Give us a chance to prepare?”

  “And what if you find that ogre, or another one? Or something worse? How will you keep it from tearing you all to pieces?” Nobody answered. Hattie continued. “Look, you can’t go on taking stupid chances. I’m trying to keep everyone in this community safe, but especially you three. That healing juice only helps so much. It sure won’t bring you back from the dead.”

  Jenny broke the awkward silence a half-minute later. “Maybe Sean knows where the ogre is.”

  Jessabelle shrugged. “You know a way to force him to talk?”

  Jenny cocked her head to the side. “I was sort of thinking about just asking him.”

  “Can you trust him? He’s working with that witch!”

  “So? Hattie’s also a witch. That doesn’t mean she’s an enemy.”