The Phoenix and the Witch

by H. M. Gooden

  The army of the king's men was keeping close watch on the dangerous prisoners when Cat abruptly felt time skip forward. She was disoriented, but realized she was standing in a what appeared to be a courtroom, listening to a reading of a list of crimes and the punishment that was to be carried out. The room was small and cramped, with a central person at a raised table with two men on either side, and a row of people chained on the ground in front who were being held in place by guards. Just as she started to feel she was getting a handle on what was happening, she had the sensation of jumping and time shifted once again.

  Cat found herself back in the room that she'd first seen, where the young man was sitting down and writing at the same small desk directly in front of her. She assumed this meant that she'd witnessed all that she was meant to see and half expected she'd blink and be back in the coffee shop but instead, King James appeared in the doorway.

  "My lord," said the scribe, clearly surprised to see him. "Did you require my assistance for something?"

  King James nodded, stepping into the small room to look at the scribe's parchment. "It is very important that events are written down exactly as you remember them."

  His deep baritone voice conveyed the gravity of his words. His deep green eyes firmly fixed on those of the scribe, he seemed to be imparting a message she didn't understand before the king turned his head slightly, and looked directly at her. The same powerful gaze was now locked on her. She was startled, based on her previous and somewhat ghostly inability to interact in recent events, and drew back.

  The king spoke again, this time directly to Cat. "You may not remember everything that you saw, but there is an important lesson for you to remember. She can be beaten, but it will drain you. You will need the power of the earth and its keeper to rid the land of her forever. It wasn't enough this time, she but sleeps still. She will wake again, hundreds years from now, looking for her revenge with the fury that comes from centuries of defeat. You must be ready. You must destroy her and all the branches."

  Cat nodded, taking his words to heart, while the young man looked around with confusion.

  "But I remember everything, I shall write it correctly."

  The scribe answered the words of the king, who turned to look at him again. The king nodded and Cat could see the power of his aura, glowing with immense strength as he turned to leave the room.

  "One last thing," King James began, then stopped.

  "Yes?" asked Cat and the scribe at the same time, although the young man didn't hear her.

  The king sighed, looking away from Cat sadly before meeting her eyes again.

  "You will need to fight fire with fire, but this battle will take more than that. You must also fight with love and unity if you are to have any hope of defeating this darkness."

  The king turned and left the room, leaving the young man bewildered by his words before he shrugged and picked up his quill again. Cat knew the king's words had been meant for her. She was determined to remember them and discuss them with her friends. Somehow, she’d figure out how to use them in the fight against the witch.

  She briefly closed her eyes, feeling her world shift one more time. Cat thought she'd fall off her chair before she opened her eyes then realized she was sitting down, still holding the book she'd been part of only a moment earlier. She looked at the girls beside her and suspected that nothing had happened to them. Everyone was reading and settled comfortably in the same seats they'd been occupying the last time she'd been mentally present in the coffee shop. As she looked at the book in her hands, it regained the appearance of a normal historical document, losing the sheen of magic that had been there only seconds before.

  Cat sat in the coffee shop without speaking for a few minutes longer, replaying the events that she'd witnessed. The tree had been alive and deeply evil, but King James had defeated it. Or had he? She remembered him saying that she would wake up again. Cat sighed and rubbed her forehead. If a powerful earth magic like King James had been unable to defeat the tree, whom she assumed was Carman, what chance did they have? She wondered if that was a power vested in him when he became the king, or if he'd had it all along. It made sense that the ruler of a land should have some true magical power over it, especially back during historical periods when magic was real and dangerously close to controlling humans.

  She wanted to tell her friends about what she'd seen, but she also needed to talk to Robin again. Maybe he could tell her more about King James and flesh out the story from a different perspective than what she'd been able to find in a history book. Cat found it extremely frustrating how many more questions arose every time she uncovered new information. She sat up in her chair, trying with some difficulty to get her mind back to the here and now. It felt as if she'd been underwater and her ears were plugged, or had just climbed off a spinning ride at the fair and her equilibrium was completely shot.

  Vanessa looked over at her, frowning. "You look paler than usual, which is horrifying. Is everything okay, Cat? Did you read something that bothered you? "

  Cat smiled tightly at Vanessa, trying to reassure her while simultaneously feeling irritated by her sister's comment about her paleness.

  "Yeah, I'm fine. I just really got into this book. I mean, really got into it." Cat showed her the book she'd been reading. "Remember how I went back and saw that stuff about Declan in my dreams the first year we started seeing things?"

  Vanessa leaned forward in her chair. "Yeah, go on. What happened?"

  Mai and Zahara leaned forward to listen as Evelyn tilted her head, each one of the girls appearing eager to hear what Cat had seen. She sighed, then briefly gave them a rundown of her most recent out of body experience and waited for comments.

  Zahara spoke first. "King James was an earth power? That makes sense. I've always thought one would need to have some sort of magic to rule the land back in the day. People were crazy superstitious and it was taken for granted that people could do things. Probably the reason why so many men and women were accused of witchcraft whenever there was a bad crop or crummy weather. Although from what I remember, King James was instrumental in a lot of the witch trials back then."

  Zahara leaned back and scratched her chin thoughtfully.

  "That puts a very different spin on what I'd always thought was just the persecution of people who were different, mostly women and minorities. If he had magic of his own though, maybe there really were bad witches."

  Cat agreed. "The people that I saw being captured and tried were very, very, very bad people. Many were soulless the way Declan was. The ones I saw that did have souls had really dark auras, awfully dark and sociopathic, like Kevin’s." Cat looked at her sister with concern. "He's not giving you any problems these days, is he?"

  Vanessa shook her head. "Nah, we're good. He's moved up in the world, naturally, so he isn't on set with us anymore, which is a relief. But seeing all those people just like him? Shudder." Vanessa acted out her words while the others laughed.

  "It was bad enough when Zahara told us the story and said it was probably a legend. But Cat, seeing the inside of that cave must have been disgusting."

  Evelyn closed her eyes briefly at the thought, and Cat knew that Evelyn must be picturing the interior of the cave.

  "Don't even try," Cat warned. "You don't want to think about it. I'm going to ignore that part of the story myself, but take what King James said to heart. I want to talk to Robin again as soon as possible. Zahara, can we go back to your parent’s place and try again?"

  Zahara tilted her head agreeably. "Sure, but I thought you wanted to head to the coast this weekend to check out the cave area? We could try to get to Robin there, but I don't know if there's a gate over there off-hand. Or we could go back to my parent’s and try, but then we'd have to delay the trip to the coast."

  Zahara waited for Cat to answer, but Vanessa spoke instead.

  "Let's just go where we know he is this weekend. We're facing a lot of dark ones right now and I think we'll need to
kill a few more of them before we go out that way anyway. I don't relish the thought of being trapped in a cave with fifty-plus monsters like that."

  Vanessa wrinkled her nose when she finished. Cat completely concurred with her assessment.

  "Vanessa's right. Let's give it another week here and go back to your garden this weekend. I think we need to thin down the dark side and get rid of a few of their players before heading to the coast. The cave seemed very isolated. I don't want to be surrounded if we can avoid it."

  Evelyn nodded. "I agree. I think we should talk to Robin and see what he knows first, then go to the coast next weekend."

  "The more we know, the safer we’ll be. I hope," Mai added, with some hesitation.

  Cat knew they were all on the same page and smiled in relief. With their plans made, they continued to read through the books. They'd go back to the garden to seek more answers from Robin on the weekend, then go to the coast the weekend after. While Cat felt that their plan was the best choice at that moment and that they needed to speak to Robin and pick off some of the dark ones first, she didn't want to wait too long before going to the caves. She couldn’t help but wonder if there was something that they were missing and continued to feel uneasy for the rest of the day, concerned that they might be making a huge mistake, but having no idea what it was.

  CHAPTER TEN

  The smell of curry and rice cooking filled the air. The kitchen had the same sunny yellow walls with multi-floral curtains gently blowing in the breeze from open windows Cat remembered from the last time she'd been there. She felt at home in the cottage. It was a safe oasis of warmth in advance of the oncoming storm, one that Cat desperately needed at that moment. The girls had struggled through the week in the city, each reading as much as they could to try to find answers, but they hadn't found the books to be overly useful. Cat thought that she understood more about magic in general, but she hadn't learned anything more about the witch at the dark heart of the evil that lay ahead of them. They'd continued to go out scouting and had each taken out a handful of dark souls. The girls were all becoming faster and more skilled and except for the one occasion when Mai had accidentally eaten one of their enemies, there had been no casualties for Team Awesome. Vanessa had coined this as their default name, firmly telling them that until someone came up with something better, that was what the group would be called. No one had, therefore Team Awesome it had remained.

  Each girl had found a way to fight back against the dark soul-stealers using their own skills. Zahara could now drain the energy out of them and trap them in the ground. Vanessa had maintained her practice of sucking the air out of their bodies, as she found it quick, efficient, and somewhat fulfilling. Mai could control the water in their human shells and Evelyn was now able to control the minds of the dark ones long enough for the others to have a chance to finish them off.

  While Cat was proud of her friends, she still worried about the sheer numbers of dark ones that they'd already come across. They seemed to keep coming inexorably, almost as if they were multiplying somewhere. Cat had the sinking feeling that they were arriving from all over the world now, returning to the source of the power that controlled them and had taken part in their creation.

  Turning her attention back to the delicious smells in the cottage, Cat realized Mrs. Khan had started to put food on the dining room table. Zahara's brothers and father were also there, so Cat sat down in the one remaining empty chair. Conversation was light that day and Cat could tell that her friend's family was more relaxed with them there than they'd been the last time the girls had visited. Not until supper was over and the girls were able to leave did Cat take a deep breath of relief. She'd been waiting all week to find out if Robin could answer her questions about King James and the tree and she was looking forward to hopefully getting some closure that night.

  All five of the girls went out to the backyard, passing underneath the leaf-covered gazebo. Cat looked at the stars in the crisp March night sky with a sense of awe. They looked so bright and cold against the backdrop of the growing darkness. As she waited in anticipation, Cat began to deflate as the minutes passed. She looked around the gazebo. The garden was as beautiful as usual, but with no hint of magic in the greenery except the green itself. The sense of disappointment amongst the girls was palpable and they looked at each other, their shoulders slumping after they'd waited awhile longer.

  "I'm not sure he's going to come tonight," Zahara said quietly, with a tone of regret.

  Cat shrugged, sitting down on the small bench beneath the branches. "It's fine. I wasn't really expecting much, just hopeful that he'd show up for us, that's all."

  Vanessa sat down beside her and patted Cat's arm. "It's okay. We still have time to get answers another way. You've already found out a lot about what's going on."

  Cat stood up abruptly.

  "But all I have is a few images and a crap load of questions. I want to know how to defeat her. I want to know why she is what she is, as well as what the heck we’re supposed to do about it!"

  Evelyn went over to Cat, hugging her before holding her at arms length to peer intensely at her face.

  "I know this is hard for you, Cat. It's hard for all of us. We will figure this out and we’ll get through it together. Between the things you're seeing and what I've been getting in my dreams, we're bound to have the full picture soon. Let's just relax and see if anything comes to us tonight, okay?"

  Cat flushed, embarrassed at her petulant outburst. "Okay, you're right. I'll try harder to be patient," she said, then smiled. "It's been awhile since we've all just hung out. Anyone up for a movie marathon?"

  Soon the girls found themselves in the living room, where they spent the rest of the night watching old eighties movies. By the time The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, and The Goonies were over, Cat was feeling better. It was nice to enjoy a break from the drama that surrounded them by enjoying someone else's fabricated teen drama instead. The outfits and hairstyles in the movies made them giggle at times, but it also felt cozy and simple. Cat felt herself relax for the first time in what felt like years. She knew that Evelyn was right. They'd get the answers they needed in time, one way or another. Cat was still impatient and had to damp down the phoenix within that was itching to fight by telling herself that her time would come soon enough. Robin or someone else would spill the beans at some point and let them know what they needed to know, as always.

  They said goodnight and went to their respective rooms. The Khan's home was relatively large, with enough space for each of them to have a bed, although they were sharing two rooms. As they drifted off into the land of sleep, dreams visited each of the girls in turn.

  ZAHARA SIGHED WITH relief as she found herself in her fox form, running through the grass. She felt happy and free at these times, chasing mice or finding interesting smells. While she always knew that she was something other than a mere fox, her thoughts became less complicated when she shifted into fur. She noticed a twinkle in the grass with her sharp eyes and bounded over. As she got closer she slowed, her body becoming tense and quiet as all her instincts told her to be careful, but it was just a discarded chocolate bar wrapper. Zahara was confused, since her instincts were still shouting at her to pay attention. She looked around, half expecting to find a wolf ready to pounce, when she realized she was near a cliff.

  Zahara carefully picked her way closer to the edge and looked over, seeing the waves crashing below. At the bottom of the cliff she noticed some caves. A small row boat was tied to something with a rope and as she watched it bob in the water she saw the boat being pulled into the mouth of the cave by an unseen hand. A moment later, the boat reemerged, this time full of rough looking men who appeared to be carrying an assortment of wooden and metal objects that appeared to be weapons. She couldn't see their faces, but Zahara instinctively knew that they were bad people. She wondered if she'd stumbled onto a ring of smugglers. But why were they were out in broad daylight? Her heart jumped into her chest in su
rprise when a quiet voice spoke from beside her left ear.

  "Mark the entrance well, my child. It may be of use later."

  Zahara whirled around, her tail swishing behind her and her teeth bared. But instead of a threat, she saw her old mentor sitting beside her, cross-legged on the ground, looking far older than she remembered him to be.

  "Robin? What are you doing here? Why didn't you open the gate and talk with us earlier?"

  He shrugged and looked moodily out over the cliff. "I wasn't in the mood for visitors."

  Zahara examined his face more closely. "Robin, are you okay? You look like you're getting...older. Can I help you with something?"

  He smiled sadly and shook his head.

  "Thank you, but you already are. Everything has a season, including me. The evil that leaches into the land is aging me, but it is of no consequence as long as you succeed. Mark this place well. You will need to be quick and smart, like the fox you are, for you to help your charges and friends succeed in the quest I have set before you."

  He looked down at the boat with immense sadness in his face. "I wish it wasn't always this way. I ask too much of you all."

  He looked back at Zahara, reaching out his hand to gently stroke her head. She felt a tingle where his hand passed, the strength of his magic calling to her blood as it always did. With one last smile, he dropped his hand and stood up.

  "It's time for you to go now. Sleep, rest, and remember this place. It will be important."

  Zahara blinked. Just as quickly as he'd appeared, he was gone, leaving her alone in the grass at the top of the cliff.

  MAI DREAMED OF JAKE that night, falling asleep with an aching loneliness that came from being a continent away from her soulmate. She found herself back in San Francisco, sitting on the couch in the apartment she shared with Vanessa. She felt as if there was something she'd forgotten to do, so got up from the couch and walked over to the window. She looked out at the tree-lined street and it's calm beauty with an unsettled feeling. Something needed to happen, but what?