Last Exit

by Catie Rhodes

“I’m thinking about doing old-fashioned tent revivals with faith healings.” His dark eyes, so like my father’s, so like mine, settled on my face.

  I tried to work out the logistics of the faith healings. Dillon could persuade people of a lot of things, but it wore off fast. Then I glanced at Zora, their daughter. She gave me a smile much older than her years.

  When I’d first met her, she’d been able to bring small creatures back to life. But as she matured, her gifts changed with her. Her ability to resurrect had lessened to healing abilities. But they were strong.

  My muscles tightened at the idea of my baby cousin becoming a faith healer. It could be dangerous for her. But I couldn’t argue against it. We were Greggs. Travelers who made our gifts work for us. I did have one question.

  “You’re going to do that without traveling around?” I saw the dangers, but I also saw the draw.

  Finn shrugged. “Lotta land out where you two are going. I thought we could find a place nearby and…”

  “Hide with me on my five hundred acres?” I smiled, and Finn smiled back.

  That huge property would come in handy. I’d use my magic to make it a place people didn’t see and didn’t get curious about. The energy crackled inside me, eager for such a great task.

  The next day Hannah called the realtor and started moving forward on a purchase.

  Griff called a few days later. His voice was high, nervous. “Get on your laptop and look at the latest news from Gaslight City.”

  I typed in a search. The headline came up.

  “Gaslight City Sheriff, Dean Turgeau, Shot to Death by Former Biker Gang Leader.” The shooting had happened earlier that morning.

  Underneath the headline was Dean’s campaign photo. Next to it, a mug shot of a roughed-up Corman.

  Throat tightening, I skimmed the article. Corman had walked right up to a car Dean was sitting in and shot him through the window. He’d died before the ambulance could get there. I wondered what would become of his wife and new baby. Tears brimmed over and streaked down my face.

  Wade wasn’t there to save him this time. And neither was I.

  I read who Corman went after once he killed Dean, and my blood went cold.

  Hannah ran into the room, gasping and holding her phone. Our eyes locked.

  “Is he dead?” I asked.

  Hannah, who saw deaths accurately, shook her head. “But we have to go.”

  Hannah and I spent the rest of the day driving too fast. I practiced the dimness spell I planned to use on our ranch in the mountains. We passed many black and white Texas Department of Safety cars, but not one of them turned on their bubble lights.

  We sped into the Gaslight City Hospital parking lot and squealed into a parking place. We raced into the hospital.

  I stopped at the reception desk. “Tubby Tubman.”

  The young woman manning the desk goggled at me.

  Hannah leaned into her face. “Thomas Earl Tubman.” She rattled off his Social Security number.

  Had I not been so worried, her knowing Tubby’s social would have interested me more. She and Tubby had gotten mighty close indeed. Good for both of them. They were both wonderful, fierce people who deserved equals.

  The woman tapped a few keys. “Mr. Tubman is still in emergency surgery. His lawyer is in the waiting room.”

  Rainey. We got directions to the waiting room and took off running.

  “Don’t run in the hospital,” the receptionist called after us.

  “Lick me where I pee,” Hannah muttered and kept running.

  Rainey stood as soon as she saw us. My uncle Jesse bolted out of his seat and threw his arms around me.

  Tears I didn’t even realize I’d been holding in came, and I sobbed in his arms. I’d been doing a lot of that lately. Maybe buying the new place and getting settled would help my emotions settle down.

  Rainey, Jesse, Hannah, and I spent the next hours in the waiting room talking about everything but Tubby.

  “I hate Corman Tolliver. That nasty bastard shot Tubby four times. He only stopped because he ran out of bullets.” Her lips trembled, but her eyes stayed dry. “Tubby’s been my client almost as long as Jesse.” She squeezed her husband’s hand.

  “That’s the toughest little son of a bitch in the world. He’s gonna pull through.” Jesse cradled his wife’s hand in both of his.

  Hannah sat twisting her fingers and watching the door.

  Several hours later, a female doctor came in with a chart. “You all must be here for Mr. Tubman. He was lucky. He’s resting…”

  Our cheer drowned out the rest of whatever she said. Hannah rushed at her and hugged her. She begged to see Tubby until they let her. I let her go alone. Tubby and I had turned a corner, and it was no longer my place to butt into his life.

  I sat in the waiting room with Jesse and Rainey and told them what I planned to do about Corman Tolliver. My uncle, who’d spent all his adult life in prison, listened carefully and helped me flesh out my ideas.

  I waited until three a.m., the witching hour, to approach the Gaslight City Sheriff’s Office. Rainey had been able to determine a transfer bus would come for Corman the next morning. Tonight he’d still be in one of their few holding cells. It would be our last chance.

  In the parking lot of the sheriff’s office, I used flying ointment on my third eye and at the base of my neck to help me into a meditative state. I leaned against the building.

  Within seconds, energy crackled through me. The elements came—a fine mist coating my skin, soft wind full of magic, the earth thrumming at my feet. Fire lit and began to burn inside me. I did a chant more because I missed the ceremony of it more than because I had to.

  “By the power of the elements

  The power of three

  Let me blend with my surroundings

  Blessed be.”

  I repeated the chant until I felt lighter.

  “Oh dear,” Rainey whispered. “You still there?”

  “Yes.” It felt as though I were speaking from within a long, dark cave.

  “Shall I tell Hannah it’s a go?” Rainey held her fingers over her phone, waiting for me to call it.

  “Do it.” Without waiting to see if she did, because a good leader doesn’t have to, I slipped toward the door of the sheriff’s office and waited.

  Hannah’s car careened around the corner. The tires squalled to a stop. Hannah bailed out of the car and raced for the door of the sheriff’s office, sobbing. She never even looked my way, probably didn’t see me. I followed her inside and slipped along the wall.

  “There’s a man following me,” Hannah gasped at the officer on duty.

  The officer’s face never changed expression. “What’s going on?”

  “I stopped at Twenty-Four for cigarettes. He came over to me in the parking lot, trying to get me into his car. I told him to fuck off and…” Hannah spoke faster and faster, the hysterical edge in her voice quite believable for a woman who’d only landed one acting role in her whole life.

  I crept through the office and to the door leading to the cells. I put my hand on the card slot, fascinated at how my skin blended with the stainless steel, and gave the mechanism inside a little jolt of fire. The green light began blinking. I pulled the door open as little as I could.

  Hannah began to yell in earnest. “Oh my gawd. I think that’s him.”

  She ran to the door. The officer stood to watch her. I opened the door leading to the holding cells a little wider and slipped through the crack, muscles wire tight, heart slamming against my breastbone.

  I crept down the narrow row of cells. Rather than the stereotypical iron bars, each one had a heavy steel door with a tall, narrow window of security glass. I peeked inside the darkened cells, searching for a presence I knew well. I found Corman in the last one.

  I passed my hand over the door, and it clicked open. I went inside, pointed at the surveillance camera I knew was in the upper corner, and whispered, “You don’t see me.”

 
; “I knew you’d come,” Corman said from the darkness.

  “That so?” Waiting for my eyes to adjust, I kept my distance.

  “I was waiting.” The bed rustled as he moved around.

  I tensed, pressing my back against the wall. I still couldn’t see him. A dark shape rushed toward me. When I saw the whites of his eyes, I danced away.

  The room cooled to freezing. A rumbling voice filled it. “Not so easy, little man.”

  Flesh slammed against the concrete block wall. Corman let out a pained yelp. I poured magic into my vision and finally got a good look at him. Corman, shirtless, tattoos on display, panted as Wade’s ghost pressed him against the wall. Corman held some kind of sharp weapon. He tried to stab Wade, but his arm wouldn’t move. Wade had him pinned. And it didn’t matter anyway because Wade was dead.

  “This is it,” Wade’s voice filled the room and my head. “Do it, and move on with your life.”

  “Cheating bitch,” Corman grunted.

  I darted forward and snatched his knife out of his hand. “Aww…does that mean we can’t be friends anymore?”

  Corman struggled against the ghost holding him still.

  I slashed his throat open in one smooth motion. Wade let go of him and winked at me. I used my new power to find the shining ball of white that was his soul. I washed away the darkness that had followed him through his life and opened the gates of the afterlife. He streaked through. I sent a wish of goodwill after him.

  Corman slid to the floor, gagging, trying to hold his throat closed. His soul brightened in preparation of exiting his body.

  I watched, fascinated, but backed away, determined not to let the blood spreading around him get on my shoes.

  “I’ll witness your final seconds,” I told him.

  The anger I’d held for Corman drained away, and I saw him for the sad little man he’d been all along. Angry at the world. Angry at himself. Behind that was enough loyalty and passion to drive an army. The waste saddened me, but not enough to take his hand and comfort him.

  The life drained out of Corman’s cold eyes. His spirit, brighter than ever, edged away from the now useless shell and stood before me.

  He’d died too early, and I held the keys to his soul’s final fate. I made my decision in less than a second. Corman had been too destructive in life not to be that way in death. But that wasn’t what made up my mind. He’d cost me too much to show him any final kindness.

  I moved toward his spirit. Sensing my intent, it shrank back and tried to dart away from me. Something inside me latched onto his scrawny spirit and sunk curved barbs into it. The gate between this world and the next opened with a clang that shook the entire building. I reared back and slung Corman so far into the dark outposts he couldn’t even haunt.

  “May you walk there forevermore,” I whispered.

  I walked back through the sheriff’s office, using most of my energy to make myself dim. I didn’t have the power of invisibility, but I could do the hell out of dimness. Even so, I still had to stick close to walls. I soundlessly slipped back into the main room of the sheriff’s office.

  Hannah waved her hands, still explaining her horrible night to the poor officer on duty. He dutifully took notes. I tapped her shoulder. She jumped as though a goose had walked over her grave and wrapped up her story.

  “I’m sure he’s gone.” She let out a fake laugh. “I’ll just go straight back to my boyfriend’s.” Hannah stood.

  “Who’s your boyfriend?” The officer followed suit.

  “Tubby Tubman.” Hannah gave him the sweetest smile.

  The officer’s face stilled. He saw Hannah to the door and forcefully told her to have a good night. She drove around the block and picked me up.

  “It’s done.” I slid into the car.

  She started driving. “You don’t sound thrilled.”

  “In the end, he was just a pathetic turd who died a lonely, horrifying death.” I leaned back in the seat, nausea swimming in my stomach. A few blocks later, I had Hannah pull over so I could vomit on the curb in front of someone’s house.

  The next morning, the story of Corman’s murder was all over the news. The camera had picked up only Corman’s shadow in the darkened cell. Authorities were saying he’d killed himself. Considering he’d killed a sheriff, they probably didn’t really care.

  Tubby was still in the hospital, and Hannah refused to leave town. We stayed at Rainey’s. My uncle’s residence there had facilitated a few changes. Gone was the austere white carpet. In its place was wood stained a warm color.

  “You like it? I cut, stained, and installed the flooring myself.” Jesse reclined on the formerly nice leather couch, now covered with scratches. Rainey’s dog, Ugly, sprawled in his lap.

  We spent two weeks with them while Tubby regained his strength at the hospital. Hannah went to be with him every day and forced him to do his physical therapy. Their cussing arguments were the talk of Gaslight City’s medical personnel.

  Jesse and I took long walks through Rainey’s fancy neighborhood and talked more than we ever had. The year was guttering, and the weather had turned into what passed for winter in Texas. Our breath puffed out in vapor with our words, making them seem more important than they were.

  I told Jesse everything about what had happened with Wade and Tanner’s reaction to it. He laughed at how I’d screwed things up. I surprised myself by laughing too.

  “Things are going to be what they’re going to be, aren’t they?” I stopped while Ugly peed next to a tree.

  Jesse nodded. “Can you live with that?”

  I thought about his question as we circled the block endlessly waiting for the dog to finish his business. We went back to the house. We started supper. Finally I had an answer for him.

  “This might sound crazy, but I’m proud of where I’ve ended up. It might seem like I’ve got nothing left, but I came a long damn way. I feel like I have everything.” I took a sip of my ginger ale. My stomach felt worse than ever.

  Jesse stir-fried chicken, intent on the bubbling food. “You finally learned to love who you are.”

  “I did,” I agreed. That peace I’d found in the dark place between my life and death stole over me. That night, I slept harder than I had in my life.

  A few days later, Hannah and I stretched Tubby across the long back seat of a used panel van she’d just purchased.

  “It stinks back here,” he whined.

  “If you don’t shut up, I’m going to shoot you again.” She doubled up one fist and shook it at him. “Kill you this time.”

  They smiled at each other. I swallowed my envy and felt good for them.

  We drove west and south. On a blustery December day when the clouds hung over the mountains like an avalanche of ash, Hannah and I closed on the property we’d bought together.

  That night we celebrated in a rustic steakhouse. It seemed funny to get a table for eight instead of twenty. But then Finn and Dillon’s kids ran wild until their mother used her power of persuasion to convince them to sit down and shut up. Tubby and Hannah ordered champagne and laughed too loud. It seemed like old home week.

  “I call a toast,” Shelly yelled over our din in her Yankee accent.

  We held up champagne flutes. Mine was the only one filled with water.

  “To new beginnings,” Shelly said in a softer voice. “I love you all.”

  We clinked glasses and made too much noise until they kicked us out so they could close.

  21

  A week later, sitting at the brand-new table in the kitchen of my run-down little house, I stared at the pregnancy test I’d finally taken. Two lines, a positive, stared back at me.

  My heart thundered in my chest, and excitement uncoiled in my stomach. A baby. And after I thought I’d never have one.

  I’d known, of course. I knew the first day I felt green around the gills for no reason. That’s when I threw away my cigarettes. That’s why I’d agreed to the purchase of this huge property. Wade’s and my chil
d needed a safe place to be born and grow up.

  No question it was Wade’s. I’d known in the back of my mind that he’d healed all of me that night in his little house. He’d even tried to tell me in his way.

  A little sadness stabbed at me. Wade hadn’t lived to meet his child. This baby might have been the thing to break whatever curse he’d placed on himself. A tear slipped down my face, and the sobs came. I let myself cry until it passed.

  Because that was how life worked. You let the sad come when it needed to. Then you let it go. Otherwise life turned into a one-man shooting gallery where every target had my face on it and carried a lifetime’s worth of blame. Things were what they were. I was what I was—the Gregorius Witch, a spectacularly flawed woman of power.

  I wiped the tears off my face and sipped my Gatorade. Hannah and Tubby needed to know. Maybe Hannah and I could do that thing where we jumped up and down and squealed. I finally understood why it was important do that sometimes.

  Right now, Tubby and Hannah were the only people sharing this five hundred acres of nowhere with me. Shelly, Dillon, and Finn had taken the children Christmas shopping in Odessa and wouldn’t be back for days.

  I shoved the pregnancy test in my back pocket and crossed the creaky wood floor. We’d found the wood under the nastiest carpet I’d ever smelled, and the possibility of it, how beautiful it could be, gave me hope and made me love my first real house in a way I hadn’t expected.

  Just as I got to the door, someone knocked. I drew back my hand. Neither Tubby nor Hannah came without calling. And their house was the first one visitors to the property came to. There shouldn’t be any surprise visitors back here at my isolated little house.

  I had done the spell I’d planned on the property. Only family, close friends, and one other person could even see the property. And that one person would never speak to me again. I’d stomped on his heart too bad by sleeping with Wade.

  Tap tap tap.

  Orev cawed from outside. His warning caw.

  I took a step back from the door and called up my magic. A low hum filled the room.

  “Peri Jean? You in there?” The voice was one I’d been hearing in my dreams for almost seven weeks now.