Lend a Helping Hand

by Sara Bourgeois

“Sorry,” Joe said and looked down at his coffee sheepishly.

  “I’m not sure this is a good time for you to be without a gun. You’re probably going to need to be by my side at all times if this is a zombie apocalypse,” I said.

  It felt so strange to just put it out there like that. I was a witch, and I could believe a lot of things, but zombies? That was a stretch even for me.

  “They took my service weapon, Zoe. It wasn’t my only gun. Not by a long shot. I have quite the…. collection.”

  “That’s good to know. It might come in handy, but it’s not going to help with what I have to do next unfortunately,” I said.

  “What do you have to do next?” Joe asked.

  “Grim did a scrying for Ginger’s location while I baked. He got a vague idea of where she might be. I’d hoped she would be here when I got back, but since she’s not, I need to go looking for her,” I said.

  “I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” Joe said.

  “If she’s out there in trouble, I can’t just leave her. I feel terrible for leaving her for this long. She should have come back by now. You know that.”

  “I’ll go with you,” Joe said.

  “You need to rest, and where I’m going is probably trespassing. You can’t get involved right now.”

  “Zoe, what are you up to?”

  “The location Grim found was at the old Blackwell Rock Asylum. I’ve got to go there and find Ginger or at least find out why Grim’s scrying is leading us to that location.”

  “Huh,” Joe said and scratched his head. “I hadn’t thought about that place in a long time. I used to think I had to patrol out there, but after months of completely wasting time, I just figured no one ever went out there at all.”

  “I know, right. It’s really like someone put a spell on the place to keep people from thinking about it.”

  “That does make sense,” Joe said. “But that’s even more reason for you to not go out there alone.”

  “I won’t be alone, Joe. I’ll have Grim.”

  “I’m going with you,” he said before he stretched and yawned.

  “Dude, if you don’t go take a nap, she’s going to put a sleep spell on you. And if she doesn’t, I will,” Glinda said. “You’re a liability like this. You’re exhausted, stressed, and you’ve got no gun.”

  “I can stop at my house and get a gun,” he bristled.

  “No,” Glinda said. “You’re going to sleep. We need you at your best when this thing takes a turn for the worse. Please. Just let her go look. She’s more powerful than you’re giving her credit for and she has a freakin’ Elder familiar with her.”

  Joe seemed to mull that over for a few minutes. “I couldn’t forgive myself if something happened to her.”

  “I’m not going to let anything happen to her,” Grim said.

  And then he did something I never expected. Grim scrambled across the room and touched Joe’s leg.

  “You’re right,” Joe said. “I’m just going to take a nap.”

  He then stood up, walked into the living room, and lay down on the sofa. I grabbed a blanket and covered him up before taking off his shoes.

  “What did you do?” I whispered.

  “It’s better if you don’t know,” he said with a smile and a twitch of his nose. “I did what was right. We’re going to need him later, but not in the state he’s in.”

  “I’m going to trust you because you’re an Elder, but try not to put my friends to sleep too often, okay?”

  “Deal,” he said.

  “I’m going to hold things down here, if you don’t mind,” Glinda said. “I’ll keep an eye on your boyfriend and make sure our guest in the basement stays put. That way someone is right here if your mom and Tom need help too. Oh, and just in case you guys are walking into trap and Ginger comes back.”

  “Sounds good to me,” I said. “Thank you, Glinda.”

  “Hey, what about me?” A voice came from the kitchen. Trucker was in the pantry again.

  “Thank you to you too, Trucker. Keep her safe, okay?”

  “You got it, Zoe.”

  Despite the feeling of unease I had about leaving everything the way it was, we left. Grim and I got in the car and drove toward the outskirts of town.

  There were a few people out and about, but it wasn’t nearly as many people as you would normally see in Destiny Cove at that time in the morning. Grim stood up on the edge of the passenger side seat looking out the window.

  “Something is wrong,” Grim said as we drove out of town and toward the asylum.

  “Obviously,” I said.

  “No, I mean, I don’t think all of these people are alive,” he said.

  “You’re freaking me out,” I said. “I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do about that. Should we stop?”

  “I definitely think we should not stop. I just hope it’s clear around the asylum.” Grim answered.

  “What are we going to do if it’s not clear? I need to go in and look for her.”

  “Well, your boyfriend said that he has lots of guns.”

  “Okay, we’re not going to start shooting people,” I said.

  “I don’t know that we’re going to have much choice.”

  “We’ve got magic, Grim. We’re not shooting people,” I said. “Come on. We can fight this without guns.”

  “Fine,” he said. “I’ve always kind of wanted to shoot a gun, but I guess that’s not really a good enough reason.”

  “Am I going to have to keep my eye on you?” I asked as I turned down the little dirt road that led to the asylum.

  “Probably,” he said and plopped down into the seat. “I know retirement to the Elder Forest is prestigious and all, but, man, was it boring. I’ve been itching for a good reason to get out of there for a very long time.”

  “Well, I’d appreciate it if you’d help me fight the chaos instead of causing it,” I said but flashed him a smirk.

  “I think I can manage both,” he retorted.

  There weren’t any more people who might or might not have been the walking dead out on the old road that led to the asylum. Thankfully, no one ever went out there, so there weren’t any people to deal with as we approached the old grounds.

  “This place is just pulsing with negativity,” Grim said. “This is more than a haunting. Even angry spirits wouldn’t corrode a place this much.”

  “Should we go get back-up?” I asked as I pulled up in front of the old iron gates and put the car in park.

  “I don’t know that there’s anything they can do that the two of us can’t do together,” Grim said. “We’re here now. Let’s just go check it out. If it’s too bad, then we’ll leave and get some of your friends.”

  “Okay,” I said and reached for the door handle. “Let’s do this.”

  As creepy and dangerous as Blackwell was, I couldn’t help but feel curious and drawn to it. That alone should have told me that something was definitely wrong, but I couldn’t see it clearly at the time.

  “Let’s walk the perimeter before we go in,” Grim said. “We’ll stay on the outside of the gates, and check things out before we commit.”

  “Getting nervous?” I asked as I rounded the car to the trunk.

  I always had an emergency magic pack that I kept in my car. It was full of the basic stuff I’d need to cast spells and circles so that I was never caught without supplies. It was a black Swiss Army backpack. I grabbed it from the trunk and put it on.

  “I’m not nervous,” Grim said. “I’m just being wise. That’s what I do.”

  “I’m sorry. That was rude of me, and I completely understand why we need to be cautious,” I said.

  “I’m also a little nervous,” Grim said as we walked toward the fence surrounding Blackwell. “This place gives me the willies.”

  The grass around the fence had been high at one time, but it had all dried out and fallen over as the weather turned toward winter. A cold wind rustled through the surrounding trees and over the gras
s, but I barely felt it. One of the advantages of having a fire spirit was that the winter chill didn’t really get to me.

  My boots crunched through the dried grass, and I kept my eye on the asylum grounds for any sign of life or movement. We walked past a parking lot area with old signs that said, “Visitor Parking”. I couldn’t help but wonder what had been there before they paved it over. Perhaps it had just been a dirt lot for cars and carriages before that. For a split second, I thought I saw someone walking across that lot, but as soon as the image registered in my mind, it was gone.

  If nothing else, the place was haunted for sure, but that was a given. I wondered how unsettled Blackwell Rock’s unearthly residents were and if we’d encounter any problems with the ghosts. They shouldn’t have been there at all, but when a location has as much suffering and death concentrated into a relatively small area, it thinned the veil.

  Just past the parking area were the first of the dorms. They lined the last part of the front fence and then continued down the side. The single-story buildings were the size and shape of cabins like you’d see in a summer camp, but they were drab concrete instead of wood. The windows were all much darker than you’d expect given that the sun was shining brightly, and if you didn’t look at them head on, there was almost constant movement out of the corner of your eye as if someone was following from window to window watching us walk by. The most unsettling part was that it jumped from building to building as if all of the cabins were full of people watching us.

  “We have to do a cleansing here, Grim,” I said. “We have to help set these souls free.”

  “You’re never going to get them all to move on, Zoe. There are just so many,” he said.

  “We have to try and help the ones we can. Some of them are trapped here, I can feel it. Whatever is using this place is feeding off of their fear and confusion,” I said. “And some of them are witches. I can feel that too. They were here because of small-minded people who were afraid of what they didn’t understand. They’ve stayed behind to help the others. Maybe they can help us too.”

  “Yeah, I hope so,” Grim said softly.

  “What I don’t understand is why the Goddess, the universe, and the Elders have allowed this to go on. Why would they forsake these souls when they can end this at any time?” I asked bitterly.

  “Don’t let it make you angry, Zoe. That’s how witches turn to the dark. We can’t possibly understand why things happen the way they do sometimes. I understand a little because I was an Elder’s familiar, but it’s beyond even me. I know it has something to do with the balance. The balance has to be maintained, so the dark wins sometimes,” he said thoughtfully. “But it doesn’t always win and it doesn’t win forever. That’s why we’re here now. Focus on that.”

  “I suppose,” I said, but I still felt a little hostile about the whole thing. “I think the energy of this place is getting to me.”

  “Here,” he said and waved his hands in my direction.

  “All you did was wave your hands around.”

  “It wasn’t that fancy, but I totally did a spell,” he said. “I added some extra protection to keep you safe from the negative energy.”

  “Thanks,” I said. “I appreciate it.”

  “Well, I need you to not go crazy dark witch on me,” he said and started working again.

  I stopped when I saw someone walking between the buildings. “Wait.”

  When I turned to face the fence, there wasn’t anyone there, but it wasn’t like the flickering in the windows. I could have sworn there was someone there. It was a real person dressed in clothes that looked like the outfit Ginger had been wearing the night before.

  “What is it?” Grim asked.

  “I think I saw someone. They went behind that building,” I said and pointed toward the cabin to our left.

  “You saw someone? What did they look like?”

  “I’m not sure. I think they were wearing the same clothes as Ginger.”

  “You think? You didn’t see them for sure?” he asked.

  “I think they ducked behind the building,” I said.

  “Well, then I doubt it’s Ginger. It was probably a trickster spirit or something.”

  “I want to go in now. I need to go see who that was. What if it’s Ginger and she’s under some sort of enchantment?”

  “I doubt that,” Grim said. “But if she were, it’s not a good idea for us to go rushing in there. We need to finish walking the perimeter.”

  I wanted to argue with him, but he was right. We already had a pretty good idea that the whole thing was a trap and walking in blind would have been stupid. Not that walking around the outside was going to tell us much, but it was better than nothing.

  As we neared the back of the property where the auxiliary and main buildings were located, dark clouds rolled in so fast that it looked almost like the apocalypse.

  “We’d better hurry up,” I said. “It looks like rain.”

  We shuffled past the buildings that had been used for a variety of things over the years. They were the newest part of the asylum grounds and were built shortly before Blackwell’s closing.

  We walked past them and when we were halfway past the stone fortress that served as the main building, something made me turn around and look over my shoulder. It looked like a light was on in one of the brightly colored auxiliary buildings.

  “Grim, look,” I said, but by the time he figured out what I was looking at and turned around, it flipped off again. “Did you see that?”

  “I think I saw the light on, but I can’t be sure. That seems impossible, though. There probably hasn’t been electricity in this place for decades.”

  “Pshaw. Like that would affect witches. Don’t let a failure of imagination get the better of you, Grim.”

  “You’re right, but there must be something pretty big going on here for there to be electric lights working. That wasn’t just an illumination spell, was it?”

  “No, it definitely looked like one of the building’s lights was actually on,” I said. “Let’s keep moving.”

  After the main building were the barns and farm fields. There was something else too. I almost didn’t see it at first. Between the last field and the fence was a cemetery. Most of the headstones were either knocked down or almost completely grown over. The ivy covering them had died in the colder weather, but it was so thick that the brown, withered tendrils still hid the stones.

  “I saw a cemetery outside the front of the main building when we parked the car,” Grim said.

  “Yeah, that looked newer. Not new, but newer. This must be the original cemetery,” I said.

  “It got so full that they had to start another one,” Grim observed.

  “Yeah. It’s sad,” I said and realized we’d stopped walking. “We should keep going.”

  Places where the dead congregate tended to pull people in, and that was especially true of sensitives. Something inside wanted us to pay attention, but it could have just been a distraction. If we were going to give an entity our consideration, it needed to be on our terms. It only occurred to me just then that if we let some trickster demon pull us in, we could be lost to Blackwell Rock too.

  As I walked past, I noticed that the strangest thing about the farm fields was that they hadn’t grown over. The soil was a sick gray color. It looked as though something had salted the earth or that something vile had once grown there. I’d seen it in poisoners’ gardens that had turned on their owners, but they surely wouldn’t have been growing poison plants in a place meant to house vulnerable people.

  Unless the witches had done it in secret, but that seemed like such a dangerous, risky move. They could have hurt those around them. Risking harm to innocent, vulnerable people wasn’t something that good or even gray witches did.

  A breeze rushed past us and through my hair. It carried the hint of an acrid scent.

  “Something is wrong with these fields,” I said.

  “Better we keep moving then,”
Grim responded.

  As we began to walk away, I caught the sight of what looked like an aura emanating from the ground. Except that it wasn’t like a person’s aura. Instead it was black tendrils that began to snake along the ground in our direction.

  “We shouldn’t go in there,” I said softly.

  “Well, then we’ll go home and come up with another plan. She might not even be here. I get the feeling this whole thing is a trap anyway,” he said.

  “No, we shouldn’t go in, Grim, but we’re going to anyway.”

  I kept repeating the same thing like a mantra. I don’t know if I’d hoped that saying it over and over again would make it not such an awful idea or if the idea was planted inside my head by someone or something else.

  We hurried past the fields and the barns, which were sunbleached to the point you could barely tell they used to be red, and headed back around the corner to the main gates.

  We’d almost made it to the car when we heard a scream come from somewhere inside. I wasn’t sure at first which part of the asylum it came from but when we heard the scream again, it was obvious the sound came from inside the main building. A few of the windows were broken out and I could hear the shriek emanating from one of the upper floors.

  “I should go to the Elders,” Grim said. “We should ask for help.”

  “I’m going in,” I said. “That could have been Ginger. I’m not waiting for help.”

  The gates were chained shut, but that wasn’t going to stop me. A metal chain was no match for someone like me. Panic gripped me the second I heard the scream, and my temperature had already risen. I touched my finger to the chain and channeled all the fire inside of me.

  Within seconds the chain in contact with my finger glowed red and began to melt away. A moment later, it broke in half.

  “Whoa,” Grim said.

  “I take it your old mistresses weren’t fire witches,” I said as I pushed the gate open.

  “Water and air witches,” he said and trailed behind me.

  “Well, my power is good for more than just baking cupcakes,” I said. “Though I seldom get to use it for more than cooking.”

  We stepped inside and for some reason, I closed the gate behind us. When I did, everything went dark. Not like pitch black, but like it was nighttime inside of the asylum grounds.