Sorcerers, Spirits, and Ships

by Katherine Gilbert

  They were vicious little smiles, Armand knew, the type no child should have.

  “I think that’s the mechanic over in the corner.”

  Of course, it was. He had on a green jumpsuit.

  But the music was getting louder, and it was coming from the Grand Salon. Why wasn’t she going into the Grand Salon?

  “Armand?” he thought he heard Kitty say, somewhere very far away, but couldn’t be sure.

  Now, he was walking down a few flights of stairs, with an oddly-staring person just standing there every few feet, and then through the doors into another room entirely filled with people.

  There were British sailors. American GIs. Women in gowns. Men in business suits and dinner jackets. The entire Grand Salon was filled with them.

  And there was someone—or something—else, up on the stage, beckoning to him. Without even thinking, he walked toward it.

  But it was only then he realized he couldn’t hear Annabella’s voice anymore.

  Chapter 18

  Annabella

  Annabella knew she was dreaming, but she would have sworn that she saw Armand entering the Grand Salon. Still, it was only for a second. Then someone pulled on the bit of magic she’d left to wake her, and she was staring at a very worried Kitty.

  “Armand gone!” she yowled, her eyes wide.

  Annabella’s heart clenched in fear, and she didn’t fight, as the ex-cat pulled her to her feet and took her over to Armand, who clearly hadn’t gone anywhere.

  Staring at Kitty confusedly for a moment, Annabella saw the cat point, hiss, and back a little away, hiding behind her.

  Feeling like something out of a horror movie, Annabella turned back slowly to where Armand sat in utter silence. A moment later, his head rose, eyes opening.

  But they weren’t his at all. They were entirely black with red irises—just the way Beatrix’s had looked once she was no longer hiding her true self.

  It was made no better when Beatrix’s spreading, evil smile was on his lips.

  “Hello, Annabella,” Beatrix’s voice came from his mouth, and she realized in horror that it was the same voice she’d heard from the little boy ghost earlier that day. “Thank you so much for being foolish enough to leave him unprotected.”

  Although something inside her started screaming and didn’t stop, outwardly, Annabella fumed.

  Grabbing Kitty, who was still much too close, she pushed her back toward Teena, who caught and held her. Then she crossed her arms and confronted her former kidnapper . . . in the body of the man she loved.

  “Hello, Beatrix. You’re looking much better than you deserve for someone who’s dead.”

  Armand/Beatrix shrugged—although, sadly, there was nothing of Annabella’s beloved in the move.

  “Bodies are disposable. I’d already had three by the time you knew me.”

  While she’d had no way of knowing this, Annabella did remember the woman’s butterfly collection—and the fact that they had all been the dead, transmogrified remains of the men the woman had ensorcelled.

  She tried not to shake. Miss Janeway was right. Beatrix did have a lot of blood on her hands.

  “So is this what it’s for, Beatrix? You and your master are here to get you a new body?”

  The internal screaming grew louder at the thought, but Annabella tried to ignore it. This was too important.

  “Not at all, but it’s a convenient side benefit.”

  Annabella’s lover’s lips spread with Beatrix’s smile.

  “You don’t think I’m his grandmother for nothing, do you?”

  While Annabella seemed to remember that the woman was actually his great-grandmother, this absolutely wasn’t the time for such quibbles. “So what do you want?”

  Beatrix rolled Armand’s eyes. With the red-and-black orbs, it was even more disturbing.

  “Delaying tactics. That really was your only defense, wasn’t it?”

  Still, she smiled.

  “But very well. I’ll tell you. It’s not like anyone’s ever going to hear from you again anyway.”

  Out of the corner of her eye, Annabella could see Kitty shaking in Teena’s arms, William standing in front of them both, but Beatrix hadn’t looked at them once.

  Annabella intended to keep it that way.

  “After your little . . .”

  There was a pause, as Beatrix seemed to be looking for the right diminutive.

  “. . . stunt got us both discorporated and banished, my master began to look for the right place to land. You have no idea how powerful a good grudge can be. Thankfully, there was a ghost here who’d gone to his watery grave with a curse on his lips, one strong enough to invoke a wraith. Sadly for him, the conditions hadn’t been right to fully form the spell originally, but the unintentional murder the ghosts had caused was enough of a sacrifice to gain my master’s attention.”

  She said it all as though it were a series of mild annoyances and triumphs in an average work day.

  “When he offered to bring the curse to life, that ghost—and several others—were only too happy to take part. Then it was only a small matter of drawing that idiot girl here to make a deal for some sleazy boy’s attention . . .”

  The disturbing smile spread further.

  “. . . and everything was finally in place for our return.”

  This was everything Annabella needed to know. While she wanted to lob every spell she could think of at Armand’s body to get Beatrix out of it, it was also clear that his soul was not currently there. Given the patterns so far—and what she had seen in the dream—she suspected it was in the Grand Salon. If she stayed, she might damage Armand’s body fighting with Beatrix. She had to get to where their final showdown was clearly meant to be.

  Moving while Beatrix was distracted by talking about her triumphs, Annabella tossed a quick spell at the woman and motioned to Teena to open the door. Soon, they were all out in the hallway.

  Thankfully, Beatrix didn’t follow.

  The spell she had just created wasn’t even one she consciously recognized, was some combination of protection, anti-possession, and a claiming. Still, she hoped it would work the way it felt. She had no real way to know for sure.

  When the door slammed shut behind them and sealed with a bit of ugly magic Annabella remembered far too well from her childhood home, she tried not to panic.

  But Kitty was doing that for her, grabbing her by the arms. “You left him! You left him in there with that thing inside of him!”

  “I’m not abandoning him, Kitty, I promise.” Annabella took the ex-cat’s hands, stroking over them.

  “Uh, guys?” Teena tried to get their attention.

  “But she has him!” Kitty screamed. “She has my Armand!”

  Out of the corner of her eye, Annabella saw William look very confused at the term, but Teena was still trying to get their attention. “He-lloooo! Earth to useful wit-ches!”

  When Kitty started to dash toward the cabin again, Annabella held her back.

  “No! You can’t get him back that way! Beatrix would kill you, and Armand would still be trapped.”

  Piteously, Kitty was staring at her, as Annabella stroked over her face.

  “I promise you that I don’t intend to leave him.”

  “Uh, hello! New disaster! Can you stop talking about the last one, please?” Teena begged, finally earning their attention.

  Kitty looked at her irritably. “What?”

  “I don’t mean to point out the obvious, but . . .” Teena motioned to the hallway. “I don’t think we’re where we thought we were.”

  Finally, Annabella looked around to see the completely abandoned hallway from yesterday.

  Instead of the showplace they’d left, everything here was dusty, old and fading—all glory long gone. Knowing now that it was not in the same timeline as where she’d left—was instead one which had never even happened so she might never be able to contact those she’d known for help—didn’t make it any better.

 
“Well. Crap,” she summed up.

  Like yesterday, it was empty and felt hollow, but this time it also echoed with something else—the sound of hammers and machinery. It seemed to be daytime, too, although Annabella had no idea how that fit into everything else they were experiencing.

  The cabin across from hers had its door wide open, the room abandoned and falling apart. When she opened the door to her own cabin, it was the same. Just dust and time and neglect. No luggage, no tv, no Armand or Beatrix.

  It was only the last of these she was happy for.

  Unfortunately, she noticed something else. Motioning to Teena, she pointed out the window. “That’s not Long Beach, is it?”

  Teena shook her head, shuddering, until William put his arm around her.

  “They’ve moved us into another timeline?” he asked.

  “Looks that way,” Annabella sighed. “And I don’t even think we’re in California anymore, Toto.”

  Their situation was made no better when an older, sturdy, African-American man in a hardhat came up to them, looking both astonished and worried.

  “Look, guys, I know this is a favorite spot for fraternity and sorority hazing, but today is not the day, okay?”

  Pointing away in the direction the loud banging seemed to be coming from, he said, “You hear that? That’s the sound of equipment.”

  Worried, all of them stared at each other.

  “Today’s the day they’re finally taking this old rust bucket apart.”

  Chapter 19

  Kitty

  Sometimes, it was hard to be an ex-cat. Today was freakingly harder.

  “Double crap,” she heard Annabella mutter, which the big man either didn’t hear or pretended not to.

  He was a nice man, had the scent of children and grandchildren around him, the kind of man who liked to play ball in the yard. Brutus would have enjoyed him.

  Suddenly, Kitty really missed Brutus. Not that he could have actually done anything useful, but his solidness grounded her, anyway.

  “Look,” the man leaned closer. “I know you kids don’t mean any harm, but you can’t stay here. If my supervisor catches you, he’ll send you straight to the police, hazing or not.”

  Annabella smelled like determination and fear, and it was only the first which kept Kitty from screaming.

  “I appreciate that, and we understand,” Annabella answered, smiling. “But first. Please. We can never get a straight answer from anybody about this ship. Can’t you tell us how it got to be here?”

  Kitty wished she had the sort of silent communication with Annabella Armand did, as she didn’t understand why they were wasting time not running. When Annabella patted her on the arm, though, she knew she’d seen her desire.

  If we can figure out the timeline we’re on, maybe it will tell us something we need to know, she explained silently.

  Adoringly, Kitty gazed at her.

  You’re sharing your thoughts with me?

  She hadn’t ever thought she’d be loved enough for that.

  Annabella glanced at her. Of course, I am. I know you’ll be able to help, and we can’t speak freely here. Although you might want to stop staring at me like that, or this nice gentleman might decide we’re a couple, and we don’t know how he’d react to that.

  He’d be fine. He takes people as they are and tries to make them better.

  Annabella had refocused on the nice man, and Kitty could feel her trying not to gaze back at her in astonishment.

  When all this is over, you, me, and Armand are going to have a nice, long chat.

  Still, Kitty could tell Annabella was being brave and trying to sound like the fact that they’d ever escape was a given. But her determination did give Kitty hope.

  The man, who had the name “Jed” embroidered on a patch on his shirt, sighed.

  “Fine. I tell you kids what I know, and you leave, okay?”

  They nodded, although Teena was only keeping from panicking because William was touching her. Kitty decided that made her like him a little more. He understood the right moment to start petting someone.

  “Look, this ship was a big deal back in its day, long before any of your time.”

  William’s smile would have told him something if he’d noticed it.

  “When it got to be old, and no one was really traveling by ship anymore, there was a big battle over who would get it. Some people in California wanted to turn it into a hotel or casino or something. Some other people over in England said that it should be theirs, not wasting away in America. They both sued the company which owned the ship. The company sued both of them, and then the third two sued each other. A big mess, basically.”

  “So then how did it end up in . . .” Annabella trailed off with nearly catlike cunning.

  Fortunately, their mouse took the cheese.

  “. . . in Philadelphia?”

  Kitty heard Teena nearly let out a gasp. When the man looked at her, she smiled.

  “Sorry. You know that old saying, ‘someone’s walking over my grave’? I just got that feeling for a second.”

  Jed stared at her for a moment but then returned to his tale.

  “‘Cause, let’s face it, if you’re going to take apart a ship, it’s gonna be here. This ain’t the first, either. We took apart the S.S. United States a few years back, too. Another of these big ocean liner things.”

  He waved away the thought.

  “Now, you kids go home or back to your dorm or whatever, okay? This thing’s coming apart, and I don’t want to see you either hurt or in jail just ‘cause you’re curious.”

  They all nodded.

  Jed was about to walk away when he focused on Annabella. Kitty was ready to pounce if necessary to protect her, although she didn’t think Jed would really hurt her. Still, he had a strange look on his face.

  “What’s going on with your eyes? You haven’t gotten too close to a blowtorch or something have you?”

  Quick! What’s going on with my eyes? Annabella wondered.

  They’ve got these kind of rainbow sparkles through them. They’re pretty.

  She felt just a moment of panic from Annabella before she pulled it back under control.

  Triple crap! I’m converting!

  Into a sorcerer?

  Kitty still wasn’t really sure what that meant. The only sorcerer she’d known had been Tillie, whom she didn’t like—although that was mostly, even she admitted, because she had taken up way too much of Armand’s time, back in the days when they’d been purring together.

  As Annabella was obviously too distracted to answer, Kitty did.

  “She has a condition which is going to affect her sight soon. She wants to see as many things as she can before then.”

  That was an impressive story, Annabella told her, which made Kitty preen. But let’s be sure to leave those stories just till when we need them, okay?

  Okay, Kitty agreed reluctantly.

  As Jed fortunately got called away then, he didn’t answer, just gave Annabella a sympathetic look.

  Once he was fully gone, their situation started to settle in.

  Looking at her cell, Teena sighed. “No service, no surprise.” She refocused on them. “My plan never covered getting shunted into a timeline that never was.”

  A moment later, Teena’s eyes were wide.

  “I can’t call anybody, anyway. Even if the people I know are the same in this timeline, even if I were ever even born in this timeline, they’d all probably still be in California, and there’s no way I could explain that I’m suddenly in Pennsylvania.” She gulped. “Assuming I’m not still there, as well.”

  Kitty was every bit as worried as Teena, who clearly had no clue how to help them. William was dead and not dead, which was confusing, and Kitty herself didn’t know where to go.

  Armand wasn’t here, either.

  It was this last part which really bothered her. Armand was always there, even when he wasn’t. His scent was. His love was. If something really bad h
ad happened to her before, he would have known and taken care of her. But now Armand . . .

  “What do we do?” Kitty asked. Embarrassingly, it almost came out as a mew, like she was still a kitten or something.

  It did encourage her just a bit that Annabella didn’t smell of fear anymore. She smelled angry, instead.

  “We’re going to get my beloved back, and we’re going to kick his undead grandmother’s ass back into the fieriest corners of the underworld.”

  Her grin would have scared vicious dogs.

  “And then we’re going to get our hands on that demon who thinks he owns me and make him sorry he was ever let out of Hell.”

  Chapter 20

  Annabella

  It was one thing that she had been stranded in a time which never happened, isolated from all family and friends except the ones near her, none of whom had an ounce of magic to their name. That was just another version of the life she’d lived for her first two decades, when she’d been stranded in that dreadful house on the Battery in Charleston, South Carolina, where the beauty of faded Southern magnolias hid their rot, and she was barely remembered except when a sacrifice was needed.

  It was quite another that they had taken her Armand.

  As she pushed up her sleeves, Annabella was seething. Now that she was here, possibly just because she was free of the demon’s world, she could feel the magic boiling through her blood, and understood her conversion was definitely going strong.

  In some ways, she knew she could do terrible things with her magic, could rip apart this and every other reality she came across to get back to him.

  But no. She would see an end to Beatrix and her demon master’s plans, would send them screaming back to Hell, but she would not become them in the bargain.

  Barely recognizing that she had started stalking toward the Grand Salon in this very different version of the ship, she heard her three companions scrabbling to catch up. She started to give them orders.

  “William, focus on all your memories of the ship as you know it, not this rotting husk.”

  When she wasn’t certain he was listening, she glared at him, and he nodded nervously, holding onto Teena more tightly.