The Phoenix and the Witch

by H. M. Gooden

  Cat closed her mouth, still in shock but impressed. "Yes, that's what we said alright. I'm glad you guys are okay, that's the most important part. But damn." She looked at them sharply. "You're sure that no one saw you?"

  Vanessa nodded. "Positive. The street was almost completely empty when it happened, and it went down in the alley, which was deserted. And the kid was like one of those mummies, you know? It was super gross, but pretty cool too. He just crumpled into sac of skin and bones. "

  Vanessa looked at Mai and punched her lightly on the shoulder.

  "Did I tell you how cool that was? It was cool. And you too Zahara, that was pretty awesome, how you did that trick with the ground and the cement. I'd have never known it was even disturbed if I hadn't seen it move myself. It was perfectly level when you were done."

  Zahara raised a shoulder modestly, brushing off the praise. "It's nothing. Cement is rock, after all. It's one of the first things we learned to do as kids, mostly so we didn't have to clean up our messes."

  Cat laughed. The absolutely most horrifying description she'd ever heard about a death had been followed by such a normal statement about childhood. The girls looked at her in confusion and Cat shook her head, smiling wryly.

  "Sorry, guys. But you've got to admit this is pretty bizarre. Well, it looks like we're in business now. No more time off for good behaviour. We're going to have to start hunting these guys. From the sounds of what Evelyn saw, they're going to be multiplying in numbers and we'll need to be able to get rid of as many as we can before the final showdown with that evil witch-tree. And if you guys have already been accosted while shopping on the main drag, these guys are going to be coming from every direction."

  "Why don't we split up?" Evelyn said, then quickly added, "but not in a horror movie way! I'm thinking we can do two teams, circle around the B&B tonight and see how it goes? I'll go with Vanessa and Mai and Zahara can go with Cat. That way, we'll have someone who can see auras from a distance in both groups and someone who can destroy. Cat, you've taken out these guys on your own several times last year so you should be strong enough even with just you and Zahara. Ideally, we'd have a few more people for back up, but it's all we have."

  Cat agreed. "I like it. Let's pack up, grab some food, then we can circle around on the way back to drop our stuff off at the B&B and see if we run into anything on the way."

  "Evelyn, are you good to go back the usual way?" Zahara asked. "I know a short cut, but I don't want you guys getting lost."

  Zahara looked uncertain, but Evelyn nodded confidently.

  "Easy peasy. I could practically do that path in my sleep. Let's go and see how bad the streets are these days."

  THE GIRLS SET OUT INTO the slowly darkening night. Cat was hyper-vigilant after hearing about the day the others had experienced and as her heart raced, she could feel her inner phoenix waking up, eager to spread its wings over the impending evil. Ever since the battle on the bridge and the destruction of Dub, Cat had felt the need to restrain herself more often, appreciating that the wildness inside her wanted to fly. Now that her bird had been out, it wanted to be free all the time, not trapped inside a human body going through the motions of normal life. She wished she could just be free to be her true self, but knew that was impossible.

  Cat walked with her aura vision tuned, looking at every passerby with suspicion. All she saw were normal auras on the way home from the library. They stopped at a fish and chip stand for a quick supper, complete with light conversation and copious amounts of salt and vinegar. They sat on a curb and watched people go by during the few minutes it took them to eat, before they reluctantly decided it was time to split up and circle around their lodgings from two different directions. Evelyn would take Vanessa and Mai back the regular way, while Zahara would accompany Cat around by the old wall near the cemetery.

  "Oh, I don't think I like that plan," said Evelyn, frowning at Zahara. "Passing a cemetery in the dark sounds like you're just asking for it."

  Cat shook her head. "No, I don't think so. You're the only one who's really at risk in that area, Evelyn. I can only see auras on living people. And I'm sure that the area near the cemetery will actually be quieter. Not many people hang out around a place like that, unless they're actually visiting the dead."

  Cat didn't have any qualms about passing around the cemetery. From what she knew of the dark ones, they needed living people to drain, so a cemetery wouldn't be a huge draw for them.

  "Don't worry, Evelyn. We won't go through the actual cemetery. The sidewalk goes around it and we'll stick to the areas with street lights."

  Vanessa patted Evelyn on the shoulder. "They'll be fine. Let's move before it gets too dark. I'd rather avoid the regular human creeps that seem to come out after night fall if possible. I'd hate to have to hurt a real person. That way lies paperwork."

  Vanessa rolled her eyes and Evelyn's shoulders relaxed slightly.

  "Okay, but be careful," said Evelyn. "It shouldn't take more than about twenty minutes for us to get back to the B&B, so if we don't see you in thirty I'm coming back for you."

  "Deal. Thirty minutes. We'll be there. " Cat smiled at Evelyn and Zahara waved, before the girls set off in their separate directions.

  Cat and Zahara walked down the street away from their friends without a sound. It was now after six and there were fewer people on the side streets they'd passed earlier. They turned the corner beside the cemetery and Cat felt her chest warm as the phoenix inside her crowed with glee. Beside the gate stood a frail old woman with a shopping cart, who looked older than the gate beside her and twice as rusty. She wore a blue peacoat and cute headscarf decorated with roses. As they approached, the girls could hear her muttering to herself in the way that some elderly people did when they were alone.

  As they came up beside her, the woman turned and smiled and Cat marveled at how perfectly disguised this soulless creature was. She looked like a cute granny, someone that would feed you tea and crumpets, not something that would suck the soul right out of you. She opened her mouth to talk but Cat wasted no time, shushing her with a finger that had already started to warm. Cat briefly searched for any spark of humanity within the woman, but wasn't surprised to find it utterly absent. She quickly moved on to fire power when her suspicions were confirmed.

  Zahara stood nearby, ready to help, but the incident was over almost before it started. Her last few encounters with the soulless creatures had allowed Cat to hone her ability to burn human vessels to ashes, so this one took no time and hardly even winded her. Every time she exercised her powers, she felt sadness for the person that had once existed, but the feeling was outweighed by a growing satisfaction at her improvement in burning out the darkness that hid in plain sight.

  This time, in the dark, no words had been spoken. When Cat had touched the woman's face, it had burned the shell of the old woman to ashes within seconds. The ashes drifted to the ground, lost in the greyness of the sidewalk in the dark then vanished. The shopping cart was left abandoned beside where the woman had once stood, full of cans that would be coin for someone else another day.

  Zahara looked at Cat with awe.

  "Wow. That was impressive and crazy fast. Are you okay?"

  Cat paused to take stock, before nodding with a touch of surprise.

  "I feel good. A little tired, but that's it. Nothing like the last time I did this. It seems to get easier each time I do it. Let's keep walking though. I'm not sure we should keep tempting fate by running into any more of these creatures right now, just in case."

  Zahara agreed and they picked up their pace, keeping a sharp eye on their surroundings. Luckily, they arrived back at the B&B with no further interference, but when they couldn't find the other girls they became concerned. The route that Evelyn, Vanessa, and Mai had taken was shorter. If they'd gone straight to the B&B they should have made it back before Cat and Zahara. They looked around for a few minutes and had just gone up to the room that Cat and Evelyn shared when the door opened and
the others walked in. Cat sighed with relief, before she noticed that Vanessa had a slight strut to her walk.

  "Okay, spill. What happened?" Cat asked.

  Vanessa sat down at the desk chair and smirked.

  "Nothing much. We just had a little more fun. Mai is really fun to watch when she works, did you know that? Although this time, I think she got a little wilder than she wanted to." Vanessa smiled mischievously at Mai, who blushed.

  "It was an accident, really," Mai stressed, reddening further.

  Cat shifted her suspicious gaze to Mai.

  "Oh?" Cat asked, waiting as Mai searched for words.

  "We were walking back and Evelyn felt that there was one of those...people somewhere behind us, so we pulled over to a side alley and waited, pretending to tie a shoelace. They came right behind me and I got scared."

  Cat narrowed her eyes. "Then what happened?"

  Mai blushed and Evelyn snorted involuntarily, causing Cat to raise her eyebrows. Evelyn spread her hands wide before putting them behind her back innocently.

  "I ate him," Mai mumbled, looking at her feet.

  Cat looked at her, completely flabbergasted.

  "What did you say?" Assuming that she'd heard incorrectly, Cat put her finger in her ear and tried to clear it.

  Mai sighed and repeated herself. "I ate him."

  Both Vanessa and Evelyn were snickering by now, trying to cover their laughter behind their hands, while Zahara looked confused.

  "Tell me you were in dragon form at least?" Cat pleaded.

  "Yes, I was. He scared me, coming up behind us like he did and he was so big that I changed into a dragon instinctively. He lunged at me, and I just...well, I swallowed him. If it's any consolation, my stomach is kind of upset right now."

  Cat looked at Mai. She realized that while Mai may have been embarrassed, she also seemed to be very uncomfortable. She did a quick scan of Mai's aura, seeing dark patches swirling around the area by her stomach, inside the usual blue colour.

  "Excuse me. Do you mind?"

  Cat approached her and held out her hand over the dark area and Mai nodded her permission. Cat placed her hand on Mai's abdomen, sending healing into the aura where it appeared disturbed. She felt the darkness leaving, like ink fading into the ocean.

  "Don't do that again, okay? I think you'll be fine, but I'm pretty sure that swallowing evil is the best way to give yourself a massive case of indigestion. I don't think you'd turn completely dark that way, but I don't want to take the chance. Deal?"

  Mai nodded, still embarrassed but looking a lot more comfortable.

  "Thanks, Cat. It definitely wasn't planned. I think I can avoid it in the future."

  Cat smiled, still shaking her head in disbelief, while Evelyn and Vanessa howled with laughter they couldn't hold back any longer.

  "Man, you should have seen it. It looked like a bad movie," Evelyn chortled. Vanessa agreed, miming a dragon eating a person.

  "It was hilarious, if you're us, anyway. Not so much for the dude she ate, but whatever. Don't worry, no one saw anything."

  Cat nodded before becoming solemn as she updated them on what she and Zahara had encountered.

  "We came across someone too. I'm worried that we all encountered someone on our first foray into the area. That makes me think that this is going to come to a head shortly, but worse, that they may already know where we are and are heading straight for us. Are you guys going to be okay to patrol the area during the day while we study? Or should we talk to Dr. Brown about our project to see if he'll let us postpone things?"

  "We'll be fine, Cat," Vanessa replied. "Most of the action seems to be occurring during quieter times of day anyway, when the crowds on the streets are smaller. There may be more of them around but they're still trying to keep things on the down-low. I think you should keep doing your stuff at school. That information's probably going to help, otherwise Robin wouldn't have set it up and would have just sent us over to fight, instead of making up a course."

  As Vanessa pointed out the facts, Cat realized that she was completely right. Robin always had a plan, even when they had no freaking idea what he was talking about. He'd set everything into motion, flown them to the UK, then scooted Vanessa and Mai in through a Sumerland back door. Cat wasn't even sure if they were in the country legally, which could be interesting if anyone wanted to check their passports.

  "You promise that you'll be careful? Stay in busy areas and don't go out without letting us know where you are? Like, no trips to creepy graveyards or dark alleys?" Cat implored. She was trying to make a joke out of the situation, but her words came out with the faint edge of a concerned parent instead.

  "Don't worry, between the three of us we're more than a match for any one of these guys," said Zahara. "Even if they get the drop on one of us, we've got two more powers to take them down. It just means there won't be any salvation of souls, since we don't have your healing abilities, but we've agreed it's past that point with these guys anyway. We'll be fine until you finish school for the day."

  Zahara put her hand on Cat's shoulder. Cat knew she was right, yet still didn't feel reassured. Cat nodded and tried to smile, but her smile faded with Zahara's next words.

  "Do you guys want to take a trip to the coast this weekend? Scout out the area a bit? See if we can find the cave where the cannibals hung out?" Zahara tilted her head, waiting for a response. The other girls looked at each other uncertainly.

  "I think from the story you told us and from what Robin's said, we should make that our next step," Evelyn replied. "Between what that ghost shared with me and everything else, I feel like that's where this is all leading."

  While Cat thought that Evelyn looked calm, she could see flashes of anxiety pulsing through her aura and knew that the idea was just as frightening to her as it was to Cat.

  "Yeah, I think so too," she said slowly. "Everything seems to be pointing that way, doesn't it? Well, for now, Evelyn and I will continue our research at school, in case something we come across could be helpful. We can ask Dr. Brown if there's anything we should know about or be looking for if this is Carman, Dub's mother, who's coming for us," Cat said, waiting for confirmation which came quickly.

  "Sounds like a plan," said Vanessa. "Zahara, Mai and I will roam the streets. We can be tourists and take out the trash. If we come across anyone super dark, we'll either dispatch them or monitor, depending on the situation. If we don't think it's safe, we'll come and get you." Vanessa smiled and leaned back.

  Cat wasn't sure if Vanessa was happy about the sightseeing or the danger, but Mai was easier to read. She wore a sad expression and had so far been very quiet.

  "What is it Mai? Are you okay with the plan?" Cat asked, concerned about her expression.

  Mai looked at Cat and forced a smile. "What? Oh, yes. No, the plan sounds fine. I'm just worried. Things are moving very fast and I can't help wishing that Jake was here to help us."

  Cat nodded. "I know. I feel it too. Why don't you call and let him know what's happening? It wouldn't hurt to have extra help."

  Mai brightened at the thought and nodded, before Zahara summarized the situation.

  "Great. So we all have our roles then for the rest of the week. On Friday, we'll head to East Lothian. I'll arrange lodgings for the weekend and hopefully we'll be back for class on Monday."

  Cat still felt unsettled as they said goodnight, worried about the evil that they'd be faced with fighting. Even with all five of the elements together for the first time, she wasn't sure that they'd be able to defeat the source of the place where Dub originated. She slept poorly that night, with images of the dark twisted tree reappearing in her dreams. The coldness in her heart felt as if the organ had been ripped out and replaced with ice. She woke sometime in the dark of the night with tears on her face, lying awake for a long time afterward.

  CHAPTER NINE

  By the time the sun crept across her pillow the following morning, Cat felt as if she'd aged a hundred years. She sat u
p slowly, feeling tired and creaky in her joints, and carefully stretched out. Standing gingerly, she felt things began to loosen up. She glanced over to where Evelyn slept, surprised to find the bed empty. Cat looked around the room with confusion until she heard the toilet flush. The bathroom door opened a few moments later to reveal an equally tired appearing Evelyn.

  "Morning," Evelyn said, trudging out of the bathroom and rubbing her face with one hand while carrying her toiletry bag with the other.

  "How'd you sleep last night?" Cat already knew the answer based on her friend's expression, but asked anyway.

  "Like a sack of crap, that's how. Man, the dreams last night. I can feel things are heating up again, that's for sure. I couldn't get the sight of all the darkness that's coming out of my head. Or that creepy tree. We need to talk to Dr. Brown about it before the end of the day."

  Cat nodded. "Yeah, that's pretty much how I slept, too. We can ask him this morning when we get in. It's like, now that I know things are coming, I can't get them out of my head."

  Evelyn agreed and they got ready quietly, Cat silently replaying her dreams from the night before while Evelyn was equally occupied with her own thoughts. They left for school without waiting for Zahara. Now that they knew how to get to the University, she'd left Cat and Evelyn to their own devices and was showing Vanessa and Mai around instead.

  Dr. Brown was almost buzzing around his office by the time they arrived. When they entered his office, he was near the top shelf of one of the two-story bookshelves in his cat-sized shape. He appeared to be having tea while moving back and forth looking at pictures. When he saw the girls he gave them a cheery wave.

  "Ahoy, down there! Do you ladies want to come up here for tea this morning? We can talk about brownies today, if you'd like."

  He patted a small ledge Cat hadn't noticed before. She could see a tea set next to him, ready to go with three cups. Intrigued, Cat came closer to the shelf Dr. Brown was seated on, but couldn't see anyway that it would work for her and Evelyn.