Witch Hunt

by Marie Batiste

  I took the picture and tucked it into my back pocket.

  “He doesn’t have anything here,” said Syn.

  There was a window across from the wall. I stood in front of it and examined the room. The bed was under the right half of the window. There was a basic black and white desk to the right of it with a black chair. A small bookcase next to it. On the other side of the room was a TV. Maybe there’s a hiding place somewhere. I moved along the bookcase and stopped at the desk. There’s no computer.

  “The computer is gone,” I said.

  “I don’t think he lived here anymore so he probably took it with him,” said Syn.

  A white brush rested on the nightstand next to the bed. I picked it up, pulled some hair from it, and slipped the hair into my pocket. I knew this wasn’t going to be simple but… I didn’t know what I expected to find. We didn’t find anything as we searched through every room we could find. Closets, dressers, and under the beds and everywhere else. But nothing turned up. We made our way back down the stairs.

  I stood in the foyer and closed my eyes. Syn called my name but I blocked him out. A fire roared in the pit of my stomach. I felt it rising and filling my entire body. I made the flames blue and removed the heat as to not burn the house down or hurt Syn. I stretched out my hands to the house and pleaded with it to lend me it’s secrets. My blue flames spiraled from me and scattered throughout the house. I opened my eyes just as the flames came back and entered me.

  “Come on let’s go,” I said. I ran out of the foyer back to the basement. Syn followed close behind me. Once we were in the basement, I moved an organizer that held laundry detergent and some cleaning supplies away from the wall. I crouched down and poked at a brick before pulling it out of the wall. After removing four more bricks to expose a small hole in the wall, I reached through and grabbed a book and a blue and gold journal. “Okay, now we can go.”

  We headed back to my office where I sat behind my desk and pulled out the book and the journal. Syn insisted on staying so I handed him the book. I took the journal.

  We read in silence. What I found in the journal was interesting and disturbing. The writer’s writing was chaotic and difficult to understand. The writer talked about killing women, making them suffer, and how he longed to kill his mother. He wrote how he took girls and visited them as often as he could.

  I skipped to the last entry. It was written a month after Rose was taken.

  Almost time. When it is done, they will all tremble.

  When what is done? “Did you find anything?” I asked.

  “I don’t know,” answered Syn. “Look at this.” He handed me the opened book.

  I flipped it over to look at the cover, Spell Books for Warlocks. I flipped back to the page Syn had been reading. It was a spell.

  “What kind of spell is this?” I asked as I read.

  The description read:

  Destroy anyone or anything you wish, just whisper the name into the flames.

  Then there was a list of ingredients. The herbs needed were easy to get, but the most important was the blood of twenty girls and the ritual had to be done under the emerald stars.

  “When are the emerald stars?” I asked.

  “I think in a couple of days,” answered Syn.

  I pulled up a calendar on my computer. The emerald stars would be in the sky Sunday night. “We have until next Sunday to find him,” I said.

  “You think the girls are still alive?” he asked.

  “He’s probably keeping them alive somewhere until the day he needs their blood,” I answered.

  “Shouldn’t we go to the police?” he asked. “They could help search. The more people the better.”

  “The last time I talked to Detective Warren he didn’t listen to anything I had to say. I don’t think they’ll be much help. Besides I think I have a better way to find him,” I said.

  Chapter 13

  Into the Woods, I go

  By Tuesday, Lola had come back, and I had almost gotten everything I needed for the spell I was going to conjure to find Theo Jasper. Lola came back with a few more bruises I tried to ask about. All she said about it was that it comes with the job.

  My Wednesday was spent gathering all the herbs Blossom didn’t have for the locator spell. I had to go downtown, uptown, and into the woods to find everything. I wanted to give Lola time to rest so I took the bus. I packed a few snacks and a thermos because I knew it would be a long ride. My first stop was downtown. Across from the courthouse, there was a spell shop called We’ll Put a Spell on You, on the right side of it was a pet shop and, on the left, was a restaurant called We’ll Cook Anything.

  I stepped into the shop, and a bell rang.

  “Welcome,” announced a woman.

  The smell of exotic herbs and incense were all around. There were shelves of labeled jars on all four walls, and three tables in the middle of the room with an assortment of trinkets on them. A woman with long orange hair appeared next to the cash register.

  “How may I help you?” she asked.

  I handed her the piece of paper Blossom had given me.

  “Okay. Let me get these things for you,” she said.

  She moved around the room with ease. She knew exactly where to go for each item. It took her less than two minutes to pick out the three herbs I needed. After I paid her, I exited the shop and headed back to the bus stop.

  The bus came in forty minutes and it took an hour to get to my next stop which was uptown. I had never been to this shop before. It was a little out of my price range, but I only needed one thing. The store was much larger than the last, with rows and rows of large jars filled with herbs and roots against the wall and on shelves in the middle of the floor. I searched through the shelves and found what I was looking for. Fairy Bark. I grabbed the amount I needed out of the jar and placed it in a plastic bag that was next to the rack. The woman behind the cash register wasn’t very talkative. She rang up my purchase. I paid her and left.

  My next stop was the forest. The bus only took me halfway. I would have to walk the rest. It wasn’t a long walk. Twenty minutes at the most. The free forest wasn’t for the faint of heart. It’s where Others go who don’t want to be a part of society. They are wild and sometimes dangerous. Or at least they could be. I heard some of the wild fairies could be quite nice.

  The entrance to the forest was marked by a stone sign, Free Forest: Out of police jurisdiction.

  Which means if something happened to you in the forest there was nothing they could do for you. The Ashen root I was looking for was deep in the forest. Ashen root is the cousin of the Ash plant only the root isn’t poisonous.

  It was quiet inside the forest. Not even the birds were chirping. When I must go to the forest, I practice the get in and get out method. I don’t get distracted by what I see or what walks by. Staying focused is key. I walked farther into the forest and came to a stream. I followed the stream, which turned into a river that only runs in the forest. No one knows where it comes from but there isn’t a river leading into the forest nor one coming out of it.

  While I was staying focused on my task, freshwater mermaids and mermen bathed in the river, a water dragon was coiled up on a rock sleeping and water nymphs frolicked on the grass on the other side of the river. They were chasing animated mushrooms while being chased by a tree. Even though it looked like fun I refocused on the path. A walkway branched off from the river and I followed it. I moved through the trees. Cautiously. The forest is so vast you never know what is going to pop up. It's best to be on your guard. The path led me through some of the biggest trees I had ever seen. There was a wooden cabin with a group of gnomes in the front yard. The gnomes stood in a circle with one in the middle. He was the one doing all the yelling, but I couldn’t make out the words. An older gnome sat in a rocking chair on the porch. He took his cigar out of his mouth and blew green smoke into the air as I passed by.

  I found the patch of Ashen five minutes after I passed the house.r />
  “What are you doing here?” asked a voice behind me.

  I knelt and pulled up a handful of the plant. After stuffing them into my backpack I stood up and turned around. A centaur stood behind me. The horse half of him was black and shiny. While the man half was muscular with dark brown hair and brown eyes.

  “I just needed some Ashen,” I answered as I walked past him.

  “For a spell?” he asked.

  I heard the click of his hooves as he followed me.

  “Yes,” I answered.

  “What kind of spell requires that plant?” he asked.

  “A locator spell,” I answered as we passed the cabin.

  “Ah, and who are you trying to locate?”

  “Who are you?” I asked. He was way too friendly for someone who lived in the free forest.

  “My friends call me Pin.”

  “Why?” I asked.

  “A variety of reasons. Who. Are. You?” he asked.

  “I’m Hazel,” I answered, “and I’m trying to find someone who abducted at least twenty women.”

  Pin stopped. I turned around to face him. Pin’s furrowed brow told me he had something to say.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked.

  “Sounds like someone is trying to cast an old spell,” he answered.

  “Yeah, I guess it’s pretty old. He can only do it—”

  “When the emerald stars are in the sky,” he finished.

  “Yeah, that’s right. How did you know?” I asked.

  “It’s been done before,” he answered as we continued walking.

  “When?”

  “A long, long time ago. The spell is interesting because after you make your sacrifices you can name anyone or anything to the flames and it will be destroyed.”

  “Anything?” I asked.

  “I’m from Gaeath, the nature island. There was a small uprising many years ago. The city of Sunflowers hated the city of Roses. Roses had a ruler who called herself Mother, and she was trying to take over the entire island. Sunflowers tried fighting her and her army. For a time, the Sunflowers army was winning. But Mother found a warlock that knew this spell, and, on the night, the emerald stars were scattered across the sky, thirty years ago, they sacrificed twenty young girls. Most of them were slaves.”

  “And Mother said the name of the ruler of the city of Sunflowers into the flames to stop the army?” I asked.

  “You would think that, but no. Mother whispered, The City of Sunflowers into the fire that night.”

  “The whole city,” I gasped.

  “The next morning the city of Sunflowers was laid to ruin. Nothing but rubble and dead bodies. No survivors,” he whispered.

  “That’s horrible,” I said.

  “Yes, it was. Mothers, children, so much innocence had to die just so she could take over an island. After that, no one opposed her.”

  “Of course not,” I said.

  We reached the edge of the forest. “Good luck,” he said. He then turned and trotted away.

  As I left the forest and made my way to the bus stop, a million things ran through my head. Was that his plan? To destroy the island. I wouldn’t be surprised. I didn’t think anyone would. Why wouldn’t some spoiled brat want to blow up the island because people were mean to him and girls rejected him? Of course, it made perfect sense.

  I stopped in Blossom’s office to drop off the supplies before going up to my apartment. Blossom would set everything up for Thursday and then we would cast the spell. She told me to rest up until then. I’m not used to using my magic a lot. I tried my best not to. Because I didn’t want to get dependent on it. When I used it for something big it takes a little out of me.

  I would compare it to the fatigue you feel after going for a run after not doing it for a while.

  Anything could happen. He could be an amazing warlock with stronger spells than me. Syn and Lola insisted on going with me. I didn’t fight them as I welcome the help.

  I collapsed on to the sofa. As I laid there, I realized I sleep on my sofa more than my bed. But instead of getting up I rolled over and went to sleep.

  Chapter 14

  The Burning Man

  Around six in the morning, I was back up and ready to go. Kind of. I made some coffee and took a mug down to my office. I opened the spell book Blossom lent me and went over the spells I was going to cast. Theo would be able to cast the spell on Sunday. So, we needed to get to him before then.

  The thought put butterflies in my stomach and made my heart dance in my chest. I wiped my wet palms on my pants. We had to do this right. The girls he had abducted depended on it.

  There was a knock at the door.

  “Couldn’t sleep?” asked Blossom from the doorway.

  Syn stood behind her.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked.

  “Couldn’t sleep so I came over twenty minutes ago,” answered Syn. “She was sitting outside.”

  “Oh,” I said. “I feel—”

  “Anxious,” finished Syn. “No one else is looking for him but us so if we don’t get him—"

  Blossom sat in the chair opposite my desk while Syn stood next to the door.

  “Yeah,” I sighed. “And I’m not even that great of a witch.”

  “Yes, you are,” said Blossom. “You are a great witch. You just have to trust your instincts.”

  “My instincts are telling me, you aren’t good at this you need help,” I said.

  Syn laughed. “You used fire to search through the professor’s home. I’ve never seen that done before.”

  “I need to work on my magic skills,” I sighed.

  “Nothing like a life or death situation to make you doubt yourself,” said Lola from the doorway.

  “I guess no one got any sleep,” said Blossom.

  “I slept,” I said.

  “I didn’t,” said Syn.

  We looked at Lola. “I never have a problem sleeping. Everything is going to work out the way it’s supposed to. Trust that.”

  “Alright. Let’s go ahead and get it done,” I said. I followed Blossom into her office. Syn and Lola followed close behind.

  I only have a limited number of spells I can do comfortably, and I feared I would need all of them. In Blossom’s office, we followed her to the back room. There was a boiling cauldron in the middle of the floor. Blossom tossed some of the hair from Theo’s brush into the boiling liquid. It turned black.

  “What does that mean?” asked Lola.

  “He’s a warlock,” answered Blossom. She added the herbs including the ones I procured yesterday. She added the Ashen root last. With this type of spell, no words are needed because if you add the ingredients in the correct order it automatically becomes a locator spell.

  When she added the root, the thick boiling liquid turned gray. A single puff of smoke rose and hovered over the pot. There was a map of the island on the counter. A strand of smoke floated to the map and pointed to a rural area of the island.

  “That’s mostly farmhouses,” said Lola.

  “Great place to hide some people,” said Syn. “It’ll take a long time to get there.”

  “Thank you,” I said to Blossom.

  Then I grabbed Syn and Lola by the hand and dragged them over to the map. “You two hold hands,” I told them. I took Lola by the hand and put my other hand where the smoke hovered over the map.

  “Lacus,” I commanded.

  Blossom’s office disappeared in a cloud of dust and smoke and a farm appeared.

  “Where are we,” asked Lola.

  Lola laid on the ground while Syn was on his hands and knees. I stood three feet away from them facing a lake. “The place on the map,” I stated.

  “How did we—” started Lola.

  “Transporter spell. Really cool,” said Syn. “So, you are good at magic you just don’t use it.” He stood up and dusted off his jeans. Then he grabbed Lola by the hand-pulled her to her feet.

  “Anyway, we need to look around,” I said.
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  “We should split up,” said Lola.

  “I don’t like the sound of that,” I said. Anything could happen if we weren’t together. We could get lost or kidnapped or killed. Or all those things.

  “This would go faster if we split up,” Syn agreed.

  “Fine,” I said. “But here.” I conjured three light orbs. “If you find anything or need help touch the orb and say Revelare. It will explode in the sky and alert the rest of us to your location.”

  Lola went east, Syn to the South, and I went North. If we didn’t find anything we would meet back at the lake.

  The sun peaked over the trees as I walked north aimlessly. I couldn’t find a path or a road. Instead, I found an empty barn and a dilapidated farmhouse. More grass more trees. I found myself wondering how anyone finds their house through all the trees and the lack of a road.

  On the other side of a line of trees sat what looked like a barn or a stable. Only there was a padlock on the door. There was a house close to it with a car in the driveway. I ducked behind a tree and watched the house. It was a two-story brick house with a gravel driveway. I stood up and the front door opened. I ducked lower behind the tree while I wished I knew an invisibility spell. A man with black hair appeared from the doorway. He walked to the car, placed a bag in the trunk, and got into the driver’s side. He drove off. I waited five minutes before I sent up my orb. Minutes later Syn and Lola appeared huffing and puffing. Lola’s face glistened in the sunlight.

  “A man with dark hair and a slim build just left that farmhouse. He looked a lot like Theo, but I can’t be too sure,” I said.

  “Let’s check the house,” suggested Syn.

  We followed him up to the door. He picked the lock and we closed the door behind us.

  An indescribable smell smacked me as soon as I walked in. It was air freshener mixed with something foul.

  “Upstairs,” I whispered.

  Lola and Syn followed me up the stairs. There were four doors in the hallway. All closed. I moved towards the last door, and the smell got stronger. “What is that?” I asked.