Witches in Wonderland

by J. D. Winters

  Witches in Wonderland

  J.D. Winters

  Dakota Kahn

  This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales, or organizations is entirely coincidental. All rights are reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author.

  Copyright © 2017 J.D. Winters and Dakota Kahn

  Cover images from Shutterstock.com

  First Edition June, 2017

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Mailing List

  Coming Soon in Moonhaven!

  Also by J.D. Winters and Dakota Kahn

  About the Authors

  Chapter 1

  The first time I saw the red fox I was out in a rustic valley near my grandmother’s place, working on a really whacked out spell. Believe me, I didn’t need the distraction at the time. I’d gone into this with all the confidence in the world, telling Gran Ana I would be back in half an hour, whistling and cheerful as I hiked out into the target area she’d prepared for me, glad to have a chance to show her how far I’d come in strength and skill.

  That was then. This was almost two hours later and I was frustrated and angry. So I didn’t welcome the glimpse of the little fox as I usually would have. I like animals and this one was super sleek and graceful. But I was in the middle of an impossible move and feeling all the heat of the day and the ache of my muscles and the sting of the sweat dripping into my eyes, when I caught a flash of its rust-colored fur.

  I turned in that direction, interested in spite of my disgruntled mood, but before I could get a clear view, something jumped out of a nearby tree, hit the back of my head and scrabbled through my hair.

  I yelled, shocked and angry, and tried to whack at the back of my own head, and it slipped under the neck of my shirt and raced down the full length of my spine as though it were a highway--little scratchy feet digging in all the way down.

  I yelled again…well, by now it was pretty much a scream…and I jumped around and pulled at my clothes, trying to get rid of the thing. Meanwhile, it wiggled around back there, it’s sharp little claws catching skin every time. I grabbed at my shirt, trying to pull it up over my head, but I felt the little bugger find an outlet, squirm through it, and the next thing I knew, he’d plopped to the ground.

  Whipping around, I stared at it, emotionally ready to bash it with a rock. But it just sat there and stared up at me, wiggling it’s little nose, its head to the side--a fluffy fur ball of a creature, looking for all the world like it had been created by Disney. It was some kind of rodent, but cuter than it had any right to be, considering what it had just put me through.

  “What the heck?” I cried at him in outrage, though it was cooling now that I saw him as a cutie. “What did you do that for?”

  He chirped, sort of grinned—or was he laughing at me? And disappeared into the underbrush. And by the time I looked around again for the fox, it was long gone.

  I sighed, shrugging around in my clothes, feeling itchy all over after the treatment I’d had from the little rodent. Nothing was going right today. Maybe it was time to pack it in and admit defeat.

  A picture of Gran Ana’s face slipped into my mind and I winced. No, I was not going back to face her with my tail between my legs. Not a chance. I had to slow down and do this thing right. It was the only way I could get out of here with my head held high. I took a deep breath and got back to it.

  It was tedious work. For some reason incomprehensible to me, Gran Ana wanted me to create a binding spell over a long length of twine, something that would turn it as strong and unbreakable as steel. Then I was to string it over various objects she’d made me memorize—a Manzanita bush here, an old rusted relic from a nearby defunct gold mine there, the entrance to a cave, and other things, ending with a huge white stone that didn’t look like it belonged here. In fact, it looked like a giant might have brought it from another place and dropped it there in the dirt, leaving it cracked and broken, a huge interloper stranded in our valley.

  In some ways, it looked like a fallen monolith—like something out of the film, 2001: A Space Odyssey. Remember that thing that lands on earth with all kinds of metaphysical significance that nobody really understood?

  Well anyway, I didn’t understand it.

  But that was just part of the problem. I think I would have felt better about the whole project if she’d told me the purpose of it all. Right now, it just seemed like busy work.

  My mood had been good when I’d arrived at my grandmother’s place a couple of hours ago. I was looking forward to a nice lunch, an entertaining chat. I should have known better.

  Gran Ana had invited me out here—lured me in fact, with tales of yummy things she was thinking of preparing for my lunch. Those delicious morsels had not materialized yet, and I was beginning to lose hope that they ever would. Instead, it had been the usual—“Get out there and learn to use your magic.”

  Okay. I wasn’t opposed to that. My eyes had been opened and I was learning more and more about the threat that certain beings, including demons, had been to Moonhaven. From all signs, they were gearing up to come at our little haven town again. I wanted to be ready. I wanted to do my part. In fact, I was champing at the bit, just aching to get into the fight. If there were demons gathering and preparing an assault, I wanted to be in the vanguard of that effort. That had become my dream now.

  And of course, lurking behind it all, was the mystery of what had happened to my parents and my little brother. One way or another, this fight was going to reveal all that to me. I was just so sure of that.

  A few months ago I would have thought differently, but now I had reasons to take a stronger stand. I’d caught a hint of what we were up against and I couldn’t ignore it any longer. Plus, I was beginning to get some feel for what I might be capable of, if I honed my skills properly, and that was exhilarating. It was also pretty scary, but that was another story.

  I’d been uncovering more facts about Moonhaven, too, and I realized now that any time you saw a creature—from a being who walked on two feet to the smallest, skittering animal like the one who had just taken a trip down my back—you weren’t necessarily dealing with reality. Half the time what you were seeing was a mask, a fantasy, a disguise for the real entity. Magic was everywhere and I had to learn how to harness that.

  So when I’d arrived at my grandmother’s and she’d greeted me as usual, extending her hand for a courtly kiss—and as usual, I’d given her a firm handshake instead—she’d glared at me and presented my task. Instead of the promised delicious meal of lobster and avocado salad, she’d given me another assignment. Her list was seemingly endless.

  I was to turn twine to steel and use it to safeguard the area she’d staked out for me. Well, the twine was not cooperating. I laid it out, said my Latin phrases over a section, watched with satisfaction as it turned to steel, then turned and saw that another area of the thing had turned to the consistency of seaweed. It was maddening. I got one length under control, and
the far side started to dance and wiggle. I pulled it tightly around a post, and the post came up out of the ground. Nothing was working. I began to wish I could toss the entire contraption over the cliff into the ocean.

  “You’re doing it wrong, you know.”

  The words came just as I’d failed again and I turned on the familiar being who’d uttered them with fury.

  “Oh yeah? I suppose you could do better!”

  Oliver snickered in answer, leaving no doubt about it.

  I sighed. I didn’t want to fight with Oliver. I looked up at where he sat on a branch in the tree, a huge black raven of a beast, a shifter who was also my grandmother’s butler.

  “Your grandmother is wondering what is taking so long,” he mentioned with a yawn.

  I gave him a baleful look. “I think you get the picture. This is hard. Maybe impossible.”

  “Nothing is impossible for a witch with the right magic.”

  I had to hold back the snarl that rose naturally to my lips. “Hey, maybe that’s it. I’ve got the wrong magic.”

  I knew it wasn’t fair to be snarky at Oliver, but I was just so frustrated. And hungry.

  “Or maybe what you’ve got wrong is your attitude,” he muttered, raven-like.

  I let out an exasperated sigh. “It’s hard to have a good attitude when you’re starving,” I pointed out. “Look. My fingers are trembling. How am I supposed to do this when I’m shaking with hunger?”

  “You’re shaking with obstinacy,” he said. “You’re doing this in the wrong order. You know that. Gran Ana told you to do the white stone first. And so you must in order for this to succeed.”

  The white stone first. My heart sank. I knew he was right. I was trying to ignore that because climbing up to capture the tip of the white stone looked to be a pretty dangerous proposition. I’d hoped that once I got the rest of the objects tagged with the steel cord, I could maneuver the last bit up and over the lip of the rock without having to climb up there myself. But now I realized that wasn’t going to work. Oliver was right. I had to conquer the rock before I would succeed.

  I’d probably climbed a lot of trees when I was young—actually, I had no clear idea of that. After all, I couldn’t remember anything about those days. But I had a feeling I could climb a nice full tree easily. Slick, featureless stones of that size were a whole other thing. Where was I going to get a foothold? What could I grab onto? It looked impossible. And dangerous.

  But wait. Oliver was here. He’d carried me around like a sack of potatoes before. Why not now? If he could just give me a bit of a boost…

  I turned toward him, the question quivering on my lips and hope in my eyes, only to feel it die as he gathered himself to fly away.

  “Gotta go,” he cawed back at me. “Gran Ana needs me.” And he was off before I could get a word out.

  I looked at my watch. He was right. This was taking too long. Gran Ana had made it clear there would be consequences if I didn’t get this done in a timely manner. But I was so tired.

  I sat down in the shade of a Manzanita tree and closed my eyes. If I could just gather my strength…

  “Haley.”

  My eyes shot open. It was my grandmother, standing over me, her face tense, her eyes cold. I scrambled to my feet.

  “Oh, Gran Ana….”

  “Haley, I must say I’m thoroughly disappointed.”

  “But…but this job is impossible. I’ve been trying so hard and …”

  “Not good enough. Not in any way.”

  I drew myself up. This woman was impossible! “I’ve been working very hard. I’ve been trying my very best for two hours now. I just can’t do it.”

  “Trying. Trying. Such a weak and wobbly word. What does trying matter? It’s doing that counts. Succeeding. Taking a challenge and meeting it half way, then wrestling it to the ground. Forget trying.”

  “But…”

  “You don’t try. You determine something must be done, and you do it.”

  “But I’m…” I stopped myself in time from using that word trying again. “But Gran Ana, please understand, I’m doing the best I can.”

  “If this is the best that you’ve got, I’ve certainly misjudged you.” She glared at me. “There are plans. Things that you must prepare for. If you’re not up to it, we’ll have to find someone else who is.”

  Shock quivered through my system. Would she really throw me aside so easily? Did she mean it? One look into those cold eyes and I could believe it completely. And that triggered a sense of anger—anger that I expressed in humor—or was it sarcasm?

  “How can you find someone else? How many granddaughters do you have?”

  She didn’t smile, she didn’t flinch. “I do have other resources, my dear. I don’t think you understand the importance of being tough. Of being determined. Of being ready to do what it takes to get the job done.”

  “But…”

  “But nothing. You have to be ready to commit any act necessary to protect the ones you love.”

  I tried to smile. “Are you planning to train me as an assassin?”

  I meant it as a joke, but the way she stared at me gave me pause.

  “That is something one doesn’t talk about in our circles,” she said in a low voice. “There’s no point in giving things away to the enemy. Learn to hold your tongue. You must be willing to do anything to protect your home, your loved ones. That is all. That is your destiny.”

  My naturally rebellious nature was showing its presence again. “It’s only my destiny if I choose to accept it.”

  “If you’re not ready to do what must be done, you might as well tell me now. I won’t trouble you any further.”

  I shook my head. “I don’t know if I can.”

  She’d turned to stone. “Then you’d better stand aside and let someone else do it.”

  “Oh!” I turned away. How could she treat me like this--so cold, so unfeeling? She was the only family I had at this point. And I wasn’t sure if I wanted her.

  I turned back and got another shock. She was gone. She’d said what she had to say, and she was gone. But I was left with an impossible task, and a growing fear that I was actually being recruited into a life of constant warfare. Could I handle that? Did I want it?

  I turned again and looked at the monolith. It was big and looked impossible. But I couldn’t let it be. Slowly, I picked up an end to the steel cord and attached it to my jeans, then I walked toward the stone. It loomed over my head like a warning of doom, mocking me.

  Just before I reached it, I stopped and stared at it, running through all the spells I’d learned so far, trying to find one that would help me here. Could I knock the thing down? Yank it out of the earth like a rotten tooth? Melt it into a puddle of magma? Shrink it? Make it invisible?

  No. None of those things were going to work.

  I could sense something coming from the rock. There was a tone, a humming sound. My heart began to thump in my chest. The rock was…not alive exactly, but awake. Aware. A being. I stepped closer, my heart in my throat.

  “Are you there?” I whispered. “Will you allow me to climb up to the lip I need to use as the anchor for my steel cord?”

  The hum was a little louder. I swallowed, not sure what that meant. But if I was going to try to do this, I knew I couldn’t waver. Reaching out, I touched the rock, ready to jerk my hand back if it burned me.

  It didn’t burn, it didn’t sting. It was warm from the sun. And smooth.

  I let my hand glide over the surface and suddenly I knew, as though the rock had told me, how I was going to climb it. I closed my eyes and chanted a Latin phrase I’d used before, sensing the rock and feeling its power. I knew I wouldn’t use my sight. I kept my eyes closed and used my other senses. Both my hands were on the rock now, and I began to climb as though I had suction cups on my fingers, on my feet. Higher and higher, only using the feel, never looking at all.

  I was high up. I could tell, and a feeling of elation filled me. I was going to
make it. I was going to go back to Gran Ana and tell her….

  My hand slid into a crevice and my balance was gone. Suddenly I was falling.

  I didn’t scream. The fall seemed inevitable. How could I climb that thing anyway? Impossible. And now I was falling through the air, and a song was playing in my head, that song I always heard in my dream and…

  I was in the water. The car was sinking. The others were screaming but I couldn’t make a sound come out of my mouth. I had to get help. I had to scream. But I couldn’t.

  Water was rushing everywhere, pouring over us. I turned, trying to see the faces of my friends, but all I saw was rushing, surging water. I tried to struggle to the surface, but it was no use. I couldn’t breathe. I was going to die. Again.

  And then, it all went black.

  Chapter 2

  I woke up, still gasping for air, my wet hair down over my face. I struggled to breathe, trying to push my soggy hair away, and then I could see again…see and breathe.

  I looked around. I was draped against a piece of chaparral, sitting in the valley where I’d been working all day, staring up at the white stone. My steel cord was laced through the broken area at the top, caught on the lip. Somehow, I’d done it.

  But this was too weird. I was used to having that dream, but only when I was asleep. Was I going to have to carry it with me all the time? I shuddered and a feeling of despair swept over me. I fought it back. I couldn’t let it ruin what I’d achieved here.

  I got to my feet, holding my arms tightly around myself, shivering. I was sopping wet, as though I’d really been in the river, been in the car accident one more time. I looked at the rock again, but somehow I didn’t dare touch it. I knew it had been behind this vision. Can you call it a vision when it has special effects that leave you with the results of a dunking, even though there was no way possible that the dunking had occurred?