Blood Creek Witch Read online

  Hattie cleared her throat. “Jessabelle may have a point. I like the boy, Jenny, but we ought to be cautious.”

  “Why? Do you know something about that woman?”

  “No. But we’ll discuss it later.”

  “Why not now?”

  Hattie glanced over at Jack, and then back to Jenny. “Because it may not be an easy discussion.”

  Jenny shared the glance, but only hesitated a moment. “Then maybe it’s better if we talk about it now with people we trust.”

  Everybody looked at Jack. He answered slowly. “I ain’t family like the rest of y’all. I ain’t too smart. But I’ll keep your secrets.”

  Jenny nodded soberly, and turned to Hattie. Hattie sighed and rolled her eyes. “If you say so, hon. Witches… really powerful ones, not like me… don’t often manage to remain free. Your grandma and her mother were exceptions.”

  Jack asked, “Free of what?”

  “The man in the white suit,” Jessabelle blurted out.

  Jenny stared at Jessabelle, then looked back at Hattie. “Who?”

  Hattie took a deep breath and folded her hands together on the edge of the table. “He always wears white suits in public. He acts like a poor traveling salesman, but he’s one of the richest and most powerful men in America. From what my mama and grandma said, I think of him like the mafia boss of witches. The most powerful witches in America, at least on the East Coast, belong to the coven he controls.”

  “But not you,” Jenny said.

  “I’m just a granny-witch. I wouldn’t even be on his radar except for our family. He’s taken a special interest in us, and in Maple Bend, for generations.”

  “He’s that old?”

  “Older, I think.” Hattie said. “Either that, or it’s a family line thing. Mama used to act like he was the Devil himself. She was devastated when he took Amy. We never expected…” She stopped.

  Jenny’s face grew intense. “He took my mom? How?”

  “I don’t know. Promises, threats maybe? She’s the only one I’ve heard of who escaped him later.”

  “But he didn’t take my grandmother. Or my great-grandmother. Why not?”

  “They had powerful witches protecting them. Their own mothers.”

  “But not mom? Why? Why didn’t Annabelle protect her?”

  “She tried. Your mama… Look, I love Amy, and she made the right choice in the end. But she went willingly. Right now, I’m worried about you. Without your mama’s protection… well, you’ll have to come into your own before he discovers you.”

  An awkward silence ensued. Jack decided to break it with a dumb question. “So this white-suit guy, is he why we’ve got monsters showin’ up in the woods? Where are they coming from? When I saw the giant that one time, Annabelle Rose was the only person who asked me real questions about it. Everyone else just figured I was lying. She wanted to know where it came from.”

  “Granny Norton knew about them, too,” Hattie said. “That’s why I grabbed their journals from the old house. I’d hoped that they’d written something about it, seeing as how Mama disappeared not long after Jack saw his giant. I haven’t had much of a chance to read them in detail. As far as I can tell, there are some hints about things, but nothing specific.”

  Jessabelle’s face lit up for the first time since Jack admitted their plans. “Can we read them?”

  Hattie sat back. “Tell you what. Since you aren’t going to be searching for that ogre tomorrow, why don’t you stay here and do your own research? These journals ought to be required reading for Jenny, anyhow.”

  Both Jenny and Jessabelle looked pleased. As for Jack, searching for a hidden ogre sounded a lot more exciting. But he was outvoted in favor of reading old hand-written journals.

  They helped Hattie clean up, and Hattie gave Jessabelle and Jack a ride home. Along the short drive, she said, “Now that Jenny’s here and Jack seems to be a frequent visitor, I may have to start calling y’all by your middle names before I get too confused.”

  “I think it’s kind of fun. We’re the three ‘j’s’.” Jessabelle said.

  Hattie stopped the truck down the driveway from Jessabelle’s house. “Okay, I suppose I’ll see you two tomorrow. After the last few days, I’m just glad we’ll have a day of peace and quiet.” They waved and got out.

  When she drove off, Jessabelle said, “You think she jinxed us all by saying that?”

  Jack shrugged. “I still want to find where these other monsters are coming from.”

  Jessabelle nodded. “I still think you are crazy. But I’d rather know, too. I hate thinking that ogre, or something worse, is lurking somewhere in the woods, just out of sight, watching us.”

  “I know, right? I don’t want to stumble across him by accident again.”

  Jessabelle grinned. “You’re going to go searching for it tomorrow anyway, ain’t you?”

  He shrugged and grinned. “I ain’t going to be spending my time reading those books.”

  “You even think you find something, you come get Jenny and me, okay?”

  “Deal!”

  Jessabelle smiled at him, and then turned and walked up the steep dirt driveway to her house. He’d always thought of her as being a lot younger than him, but just over two years’ difference wasn’t quite as wide a gulf now. If nothing else, Jack liked having friends. It had been a long time since he could really call someone that.

  Sunday afternoon, while Evelyn was away, Sean slipped out and made his way back to the old witch house. He avoided going past Hattie’s home. He didn’t want anyone to see him or try to stop him. Finding the trail took more time than he anticipated, and finding the old house took nearly two hours. He retraced his path several times, following the landmarks he’d memorized on his way back on Friday.

  By the time he found the old well, the sun nearly touched the western peaks. The cicada drone had given way to the sounds of other insects. Even though he knew the house stood only a few yards from the well, Sean couldn’t see it. He looked where he thought it should be, scratched his head, and found he faced the wrong direction. He repeated the effort three times, finally forcing himself to sit and stare straight ahead until the house popped into existence in front of him. Once he saw it, it seemed obvious. He didn’t waste time experimenting. He stood, keeping his eyes fixed on the front porch, and marched toward it until his hand felt the door handle, ignoring the faint blue-white glow that emanated from the nails in the door.

  Inside, the living room was exactly as they’d left it. Jenny’s blood had dried to a barely-noticeable stain on the couch, and the stained towel lay neatly folded on the kitchen table. Sean closed the door, and pulled the LED survival lamp from his backpack. It was bright, but who would be in the woods on the mountain so late to see it?

  He placed the lamp on the table, and set Debbie’s photograph beside it. Now what? Of course, he’d read dozens of books and hundreds of websites explaining how to summon a ghost, in preparation for this night. “Debra Ann Arnot,” he repeated, three times. “Can you hear me? Are you there?”

  Nothing. He’d stay here all night if he had to. He stared at the photograph. That method didn’t sound or feel right. He wasn’t summoning some ancient ghost stuck on formality. It was Debbie. The girl he’d started falling for. The girl he’d obsessed over. The girl his head knew had been dead for decades, but his confused heart still believed was out there waiting for him.

  “Debbie, I searched for you after Halloween, just like you asked. And then I found out you died in 1974. My dad was barely in elementary school back then. You might have mentioned the age difference right off the bat.”

  He grinned as he imagined her response. It wasn’t really a specific response he imagined, just the idea that she might respond. He stared at the light. Outside the window, the deep shadows of the late afternoon turned into darkness.

  He awoke after dozing several minutes. Some ghost hunter he was! He couldn’t even stay awake for two hours. He stood up and stomped around the
room to wake up. He couldn’t see much beyond the limited radius of the LED lamp, but he didn’t feel like exploring the tiny house. He just needed to wake up and try again.

  He faced the window and performed some quick calisthenics to get his blood going. He’d done his share of camping as a Boy Scout, but the impenetrable darkness of the woods outside the window gave him pause. Going home in the dark would be difficult.

  It had been a mistake to come. What had he really expected to find? He turned to pick up his lamp.

  Debbie sat on the couch. She wore different clothes than she’d worn the other two times he’d seen her. Her skirt and blouse were simple and homemade. Her dark hair was tied back with a tan ribbon. She didn’t seem ethereal or transparent or in any way ghostlike. The physicality of her appearance surprised him in spite of knowing better.

  He blinked, wondering if he was dreaming. If he could wonder it, could he wake himself up? Did he want to? Filled with a mixture of thrill and fear, it took him a moment to find his voice. “Debbie, you’re here!”

  “Hi, Sean.” Clear and bell-like, something sounded wrong about her voice. It didn’t resonate properly in the room. Aside from this one detail, she seemed like a perfectly ordinary, living, breathing girl. In that moment, he couldn’t convince his racing heart otherwise.

  “You remember me!” It was a dumb thing to say. His idiot brain was still in charge.

  “Yes. You are the boy I met at the back-to-school party. And again at Halloween. But, not the first time. Not originally. More recently than that. I have a difficult time remembering things since then. My memories are jumbled. But yes, I remember you. How long has it been?”

  “I’ve been searching for you for months.”

  She smiled. “I suppose I ought to be flattered. You found Annie’s house. But she doesn’t live here anymore, does she?”

  He shook his head. “She’s missing.”

  “Dead?”

  “No. At least, I don’t think so.”

  “’Round the Bend, maybe.”

  “What?”

  She shook her head. “Never mind. I’m trying to make sense of things.”

  She looked so real. Was this all a dream? Was he still asleep on the couch? “Are you real? Can I touch you?”

  She shrugged. “I don’t know. Let’s experiment.” She grinned, and her eyes—normal and beautifully human—twinkled as she extended her hand.

  He knelt beside her, and took her hand in his. It felt real. Mostly. Her hand lacked the warmth he expected, but it also lacked the clammy, room-temperature feel of death. It was something in-between.

  She sighed. “Oh, it feels really good to touch you.” Her eyes widened. “Oh, my. That sounded real inappropriate, didn’t it?”

  Sean nearly choked as he snorted. Debbie laughed. Sean clasped her hands in both of his, and said, “I don’t understand. How is this possible? Are you a ghost? Aren’t you…”

  “Dead? Truth be told, I don’t know. I suppose so. The years run like water. Annie has grown so old, and I feel like I saw you just last night, or was it the night before? And yet now you look a little older. And so sad. Why are you sad, Sean? I ought to make you something. Granny Norton likes to keep sassafras root over on the counter. I can make you some tea or something.”

  “No, I… Debbie, how can I help you?”

  “You want to help me? That’s so sweet, Sean. I’m doing okay. Wait, no, I’m not!” She put pulled her hands away, and raised her fists to her temples and shut her eyes tightly. “I get so confused so easily.” She opened her eyes, lowering her hands and again taking Sean’s hand in her own. “Okay, help me out with helping me out. What do you think I need help with?”

  Sean cleared the lump in his throat. “I don’t know. Help you pass on, cross over, something. Some business you left undone, that you need help doing?”

  “Unfinished business, huh?” She looked around the room. “This house could use some serious help cleaning up. That’s something. But that’s not my problem.” She looked back at Sean. “You mean like solving my murder? I already asked my brother to take care of that.”

  “He’s not made a lot of progress.”

  “That figures. He’s just a little slow getting started is all.”

  Sean cleared his throat. “It’s been… uh… about forty-five years.”

  “Okay, so he’s even lazier than I remember. I don’t know what unfinished business I have. Some stuff I reckon I’d like to know, like what really happened to me.”

  Sean tilted his head. “What do you mean? You don’t remember?”

  “I remember getting kidnapped by those boys. I don’t remember dying or anything. I was in a dark room with a bright light in my face. I couldn’t move. I heard a man’s voice saying something about killing two birds with one stone, and that I was the stone. I was terrified, but I remember thinking that maybe he wouldn’t kill me, since he wasn’t comparing me to one of the birds. Or something. I was so terrified.”

  “What happened after that?”

  “I don’t know. I became… lost. Stuck. Like a dream that keeps changing locations and times and you just follow along. Most of the time I can’t even think straight. But sometimes, like now, or at the back-to-school event, or Halloween night, I feel like my thoughts make some kind of sense again. I can pretend that I’m still alive and well. Sometimes I even meet a boy.”

  A ridiculous pang of jealousy rose up inside Sean. It made no logical sense, but the girl in front of him looked and felt so close to real. “Lots of boys?” he asked before he could filter it.

  She stroked his face with an almost-warm hand. “A few. But none ever came so far looking for me. And I’ve only ever kissed one.”

  The room grew warm. Debbie’s eyes twinkled. Sean wanted to respond, but couldn’t think of anything. Then he discovered the twinkle was the reflection of the light on welling tears. Could ghosts cry?

  “Oh, Sean, I wish things could be different. I wish… but I’d be an ol’ lady now, wouldn’t I? Did you say forty-five years?”

  He nodded. “I’m sorry.”

  “Weren’t your fault. I mean, wasn’t. I think I’d make a pretty good ol’ lady though.”

  “But do you have any idea of what I could do to put your soul to rest?”

  “To rest? What if I don’t want to rest just yet, Sean? What would happen?”

  “I honestly don’t know.”

  “Do me a favor?”

  “Of course!”

  “Will you kiss me again?”

  He started to nod, but realized she’d already closed her eyes and had her lips slightly puckered. He leaned over and kissed her. She felt as real and as solid as the floor under him. She kissed back, and for a moment he completely forgot that she wasn’t really there. But then the moment was over, and they separated.

  She leaned back, touching her lips with her fingertips and gazing at the ceiling. After a few seconds she shook her head and giggled. He felt self-conscious until she said, “I’m sorry, Sean. I don’t think true love’s kiss broke any spell.”

  He reeled back, in shock. “Wait, what? True love?”

  She grinned at him mischievously. “Maybe. Another experiment. Although it might be kind of scandalous, considering our age difference and all.”

  He sighed. “You aren’t like how I’d expect a ghost to be.”

  “You expected me to be different now than how you met me? All howley and chain-rattlin’ or something?”

  “I don’t know. I haven’t met many ghosts.”

  “Many? So you are seeing other ghosts on the side? Sean!”

  He laughed. “Not like that. I mean, whatever. There’s one who is trying to kill me. But, that’s beside the point. I don’t know what to expect.”

  She shrugged. “Me, neither. I’m me, Sean. I don’t know how to be something else. I know you came looking for answers, but I ain’t got them. I want the same answers as you. Like I said, I feel stuck. It’s…” She looked up at the door. “Oh, no!”<
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  “What?” Sean looked behind him at the door, then back at the couch. But Debbie had disappeared.

  The front door opened. Evelyn stepped in, regal in jeans, a purple blouse, and hiking boots. She swept the kitchen and living room with her oversized flashlight, inspecting it all and finding it lacking.

  “It’s a fixer-upper, isn’t it?” she said.

  Sean stood and faced her. “You followed me?”

  She laughed. “Like I told you, I’m really good at finding people. I suspected you’d found something. I just needed to wait until you led me to it. Thanks for breaking that seal on the door. I might have been months finding this place otherwise.”

  He clenched his “You were waiting for me to come up here again?”

  “Get off your high horse, kid. You knew I was trying to find Annabelle Rose, and you never said a word to me about finding her house. As far as partnerships are concerned, ours needs to work on our communication skills, don’t you think?”

  “What do you want here?”

  “I need to find where she went. Or, more precisely, how to get there. I can’t imagine she left without leaving clues for her daughter. I do enjoy puzzles, but this one may be a challenge.”

  “You shouldn’t be in here.”

  “Oh? And you should?” She laughed, but her eyebrows narrowed. “We’re both trespassing, sweetie. But don’t worry. I’m just going to be in and out. Behave yourself, and I’ll let you stay and entertain your dead girlfriend.”

  She pointed her flashlight at the short hallway. Sean stepped in front of her. “Nothing here belongs to you,” he said, with more bravery than he felt.

  There was no laughter in her voice or eyes. “You will step out of my way right now, Sean Williams, or I will make you regret it. I have no wish to harm you. But if I need to teach you a lesson the hard way, I will.”

  He maintained his bravado for a few more seconds of looking into her eyes. She meant it, and he was no match for her. He lowered his gaze and stepped aside.

  “Good choice, kid.” She passed him and began searching the rooms.