The Secret of the Sacred Four

by E J Elwin

  “Blood of our blood, witches in peril

  From fiendish men, enemies feral

  Powers of Sight, canny and bold

  Now shall increase, tall and tenfold

  To predict their steps, to parry their blows

  Of this human trash, we now shall dispose

  To speed safely through the street, I also entreat

  May we stay in our seats, and not eat the concrete.”

  My stomach shifted nervously as the Cognition Crystal glowed in that familiar dazzling bright blue from the woods. Eyes still closed, Jasper brought the sapphire knife in his left hand to the middle finger of his right, and drew a trickle of blood. He then touched the bleeding finger to the crystal, which shined even brighter for just a second before returning to its misty pale blue.

  Jasper opened his eyes, and they were back to the staring bright blue lamps they had been in the clearing, the pupils, irises, and whites gone. He set the Cognition Crystal and the sapphire knife on the coffee table, then turned to me.

  “Let’s roll!”

  We dashed out the double front doors and into trees in front of the house, then veered left toward the garage. As soon as it came into view, Jasper waved his right hand and the wide white door instantly began to rise. His black and blue Harley Davidson motorcycle and the black Range Rover shined under soft white lights. Jessica, of course, had taken the silver Mercedes.

  Jasper reached into a metal cabinet against the wall next to the motorcycle and unearthed two gleaming black motorcycle helmets. “Helmet,” he said simply, tossing it to me.

  I pulled it on and fastened it securely to my head as Jasper did the same with his. His eyes glowed eerily from the inside, and I thought of a raccoon peeking out of shadows. He started to mount the motorcycle but then paused and turned to me.

  “I’ll get us there safely, I promise,” he said. “Do you trust me?”

  “I trust you,” I said without hesitation, looking into his lamp eyes.

  He mounted the motorcycle and I climbed onto the seat right behind him. “Hold on tight to me and don’t let go,” he said.

  I clamped my arms firmly around his midsection as the motorcycle roared to life, and Jasper backed it smoothly out of the garage. We sailed forward through the trees onto the long winding driveway, where the small white lights that ran along its length lit up as we sped past. Jasper waved his right hand as we curved down the lawn and I heard the front gate creak open before I saw it. He picked up speed and then we were out on the dark street, the gate distantly clanging shut behind us.

  The wooded hills of the surrounding neighborhood flew past in a dark blur of pine trees which were very faintly lit by the slimmest sliver of a crescent moon. We were going very fast, faster than I had ever traveled in any car, and I realized it was the first time in my life I had ever been on a motorcycle. The thundering rumble of the engine vibrated against my helmet, the wind battering against us from all sides. I could barely see anything except for the small patch of road ahead of us that was lit by the beaming single headlight.

  How long had it been since I saw that vision on the surface of the moon in the Halfway Place? My perception of time was badly skewed. Panic bubbled inside me at the thought of us arriving at Huerta’s too late and finding bloody bodies strewn across the floor…

  I told myself to calm down. The vision had obviously come to me for a reason— for me to stop it from coming about. I had to believe that we would get there in time.

  Lights bloomed up suddenly in front of us as we broke out of the dark residential part of town where Jessica and Jasper lived, and into the bustling area filled with cars and buildings. All thoughts of the vision left my mind as Jasper zoomed forward into the commotion without hesitation. Cars honked and streaked past in a whirlwind of color and lights, and I felt like I was back in the streets of Portland.

  Jasper wove around the cars as effortlessly as if he’d done this a hundred times before, coming so close to them that I was able to glimpse some of the people inside, their faces blinking past like snapshots. My heart jolted violently each time it looked like we were about to be flattened by a car, but no terror lingered for long as Jasper dodged whatever obstacle crossed our path. A massive semi truck popped up in front of us, and I knew an instant in which I was sure we would crash into it, before Jasper swerved and maneuvered us around it at breakneck speed.

  I thought how ironic it would be if, after having chosen to return to Earth and live, I was splattered in my first hour back by some truck or bus. I imagined sidling up to Connor in the land of the dead: Boy, do I have a funny story for you… I stifled a laugh inside my helmet and then had one of those moments where I wondered if I’d finally lost my mind.

  I was torn out of my idle thoughts as Jasper moved us onto the sidewalk. I caught snatches of screams and saw people dive out of the way, but we didn’t so much as graze anyone. An assortment of patio furniture flew by and I thought again of Portland, how I had struck the table outside that café as I ran past with Connor…

  A glowing red sign materialized ahead of us, and my heart leapt as the words HUERTA’S RESTAURANT popped out at me. We had arrived in an inconceivably short amount of time. I was just about to shout a congratulations at Jasper when a deafening screech split the air.

  The smell of burnt rubber filled my nostrils and I was nearly thrown off the bike as Jasper came to the most dramatic skidding halt I had ever witnessed. We drifted a good twenty feet along the sidewalk in front of the restaurant, the tires shrieking like banshees, and I held onto Jasper as if I were about to be swept away by a tornado. When we finally came to a lurching complete stop, I felt like I’d left most of my internal organs scattered across the last few blocks.

  “Told you I’d get us here safely,” came Jasper’s muffled voice from inside his helmet.

  “Thank— thank you.” It had been paradoxically the most dangerous and also safest ride I had ever taken. My legs felt like jelly as I clambered off the motorcycle and scrambled to remove my helmet. Jasper slid easily from his seat and watched me patiently, keeping his own helmet on. I guessed it was to hide his magically illuminated eyes. “Let’s go!” I gasped, wiping my brow.

  We hurried toward the restaurant and ripped open the door. The place looked exactly as it had the other night when Jessica, Sylvie, Lizzie, and I came here looking for Hortensia. Overwhelming relief swept through me as I heard laughter and lively chatter coming from the many booths just like before. The electric candles in the wrought iron chandeliers painted the room in the same romantic mood lighting, and the three men in the mariachi band played their music as cheerfully as ever. We had arrived in time before the Brotherhood’s attack, but I knew that it could happen any second now.

  The same young hostess from the other night approached us, but Jasper and I hurried past her without a word. I heard her mumble a half-hearted attempt to stop us, and guessed that she usually would have been more aggressive, but a glance at Jasper in his motorcycle helmet and possibly his glowing eyes underneath had made her think better of it.

  We strode quickly through the restaurant. I scanned the crowd for familiar faces, but Jasper looked straight ahead of him and moved purposefully as if he knew exactly where Jessica and the girls were sitting. I reminded myself that he probably did, and followed right behind him. Sure enough, a moment later, I spotted Lizzie’s curled blonde hair in a corner booth and then Sylvie, Hortensia, and Jessica next to her. We rushed toward them and I was suddenly struck with a feeling of familiarity as potent as a slap to the face as I watched them laugh and sip their flaming margaritas. The scene was about to match what I’d seen on the moon in the Halfway Place. We had a few minutes at most.

  “Arthur!” shouted Sylvie, looking up from her drink. “You made it!”

  Lizzie, Hortensia, and Jessica all looked up too, and became equally alight with surprise.

  “Arthur!” said Jessica happily. “And Jasper! Why are you wearing your helmet—?”

  “We ha
ve to go!” I breathed, cutting her off. “The Brotherhood is about to attack.”

  “Wha—?”

  “People are going to die. We have to go. Come with me right now.”

  The girls erupted with questions but Jessica seemed to instantly understand. She grabbed her purse and jumped up from her seat, seizing Hortensia’s hand who was sitting next to her. I took Sylvie’s hand who in turn grasped Lizzie’s and practically dragged her out of the booth. The many patrons in the other booths glanced at us curiously as we hurried past them, and I suddenly recognized a woman from my vision. She had gray hair similar to Harriet’s and was spoon-feeding rice to a little girl on her lap. Both of them were doomed to be shot in a few minutes.

  We rushed down the hallway past the bathrooms labeled damas and caballeros, much like we had done two nights ago, then I stopped us abruptly in front of the heavy metal door with the glowing red EXIT sign above it.

  “Stay close to each other,” I said to the girls. “And get ready to put up the force field.”

  They nodded, wide-eyed and frightened, but fiercely determined all the same. I pushed open the metal door a fraction of an inch and squinted out at the small concrete lot behind the restaurant. I could see the large garbage can lit by the flickering yellow lamppost, but no sign of masked men with guns.

  “You’re clear,” said Jasper. “They’re in the parking lot. It’s just four of them.”

  I nodded at him, his blue lamp eyes shining behind his helmet’s visor, then pushed the door open. We dashed across the small lot toward the trees that rose up onto the hill behind the restaurant. Safely nestled between the thick trunks, we had a good view of the parking lot and anyone who would come from it to try to enter Huerta’s through the back entrance.

  “Give it about a minute,” whispered Jasper, his voice and appearance reminding me of a robot.

  The girls and I positioned ourselves side by side, ready to take each other’s hands at a moment’s notice. Then, just as Jasper had predicted, four dark figures emerged from the shadowy parking lot and into the flickering yellow lamplight. They all moved with the same skulking gait, and I thought again of a pack of wolves. The man leading the pack had just put his hand out to open the metal door, when the girls and I stepped out from the trees.

  “Looking for us?” asked Sylvie.

  The men jumped in shock and fumbled to raise their weapons as we clasped each other’s hands. I felt a jolt of electricity from where I held Sylvie’s hand with my right and Hortensia’s with my left, and then the rainbow force field exploded out from us like a glittering bomb.

  The four men were thrown back against the wall of the restaurant by the force of the sparkling energy field, their guns clattering to the concrete beside them. The magical barrier was just as beautiful as I remembered, crackling with sparks of red and blue and violet, and swirling like molten glass. It had risen to a shining dome that stood nearly as tall as the restaurant.

  The masked men groaned and groped around for their guns. One of them had been knocked unconscious and lay facedown on the concrete with his head pressed against the metal door. The others were wedged in the narrow gap between the force field and the building, and it was highly satisfying to watch them bump disorientedly into the barrier. I thought of insects flying at the windshield of a car.

  “What now?” asked Hortensia. “We don’t have our weapons.”

  “I could use my fire,” I said. “But I’ll need my hands.”

  “I don’t think that’ll be necessary,” came Jasper’s muffled helmet voice. He and Jessica were right behind us. The barrier had included them in its protection like it had in the woods.

  “Why not?” asked Sylvie, looking like she was itching to hurt the men on the ground.

  Something silver and shining flicked suddenly past us outside the force field, and one of the masked men cried out. The girls and I jumped in surprise as we saw the gleaming knife hilt sticking out of the man’s forehead. There were two more flashes of silver, and then the two men on either side of him slumped to the ground, identical shiny hilts poking out of their foreheads like unicorn horns. Then, as if in an afterthought, there was one more sparkle of silver, and a fourth knife hilt stuck out of the back of the unconscious man’s head.

  “That’s why not,” said Jasper smugly.

  We looked over our shoulders and saw, through the glimmering swirl of the force field, Harriet emerging from the trees. She wore a long flowing black cloak and carried her gnarled broomstick in her hand. She looked striking and impressive, the very classical picture of a powerful witch.

  “Sorry I’m late,” she said lightly, stepping easily through the force field.

  “Not at all!” said Jasper, as though we were all at a fancy dinner party.

  “You both arrived here incredibly quickly!” said Harriet. “Well done!”

  “You’re all good to take this down,” said Jasper to me and the girls. “That’s all of them.”

  I let go of Sylvie’s and Hortensia’s hands, and the shimmering rainbow dome lingered around us for a second or two before vanishing like the pop of a soap bubble.

  “You flew here?” Hortensia asked Harriet, eyeing the gnarled broomstick with awe.

  “I normally wouldn’t have,” said Harriet. “But we were kind of in a rush.” She pulled open her cloak and revealed a brown leather satchel slung over shoulder. She opened its flap and then looked up at the bodies of the four men on the ground. Instantly, the four knives embedded in their heads shot out and flew across the short length of the concrete lot, landing neatly inside the leather satchel.

  “So what the hell is this?” asked Sylvie. “I thought we were done with these creeps.”

  The seven of us stepped forward to examine the corpses. I glanced at the door to the restaurant. It would be very awkward if one of Hortensia’s parents chose that moment to take out the trash and then found their daughter standing over four dead bodies. I remembered that Jasper would anticipate it.

  “Well, we all knew there were more of them,” said Harriet. “Last night wasn’t the last we were ever going to see of them.”

  “But how did they know we were here?” asked Lizzie, looking worried.

  “Could we have been tracked?” asked Hortensia. “I think Lizzie’s the only one wearing her Cloaking Crystal…”

  “Well, I did use a little flower power in the car…” said Jessica.

  “And I ghosted my hand through some things…” said Hortensia guiltily.

  “But they’d need Deidre to do that,” said Jessica. “And she’s long gone.”

  “Maybe they found another traitor witch to help them?” asked Sylvie.

  “We’ll figure it out,” said Harriet. “For now, let’s focus on getting rid of these bodies. There are some good spots in those trees. Jessica, would you care to assist again?”

  “Of course!” said Jessica brightly.

  “Good, I’ll just levitate them up there…”

  Harriet said something else but I didn’t hear what it was. I had just noticed something on one of the bodies, something cream-colored that was terribly familiar. I leaned forward and saw the blood-red wax seal with the ornate letter A set into it, the A that stood for Armin… It was a letter from the Brotherhood, crisply sealed and immaculate just like the one they’d tied to a rock with a twine bow and sent flying through Harriet’s living room window.

  Harriet and the others fell silent as they saw me lean down in front of the body with the letter attached to it. It was pinned to the side of the dead man’s jacket, and I thought absurdly of my kindergarten days when the teachers would pin important notes to students’ clothing and backpacks to ensure their parents would receive the message. I hadn’t noticed the envelope, lightly colored as it was, when the men walked out into the light. It was almost as if it had magically appeared…

  “What is that?” I heard one of the girls whisper.

  “A message from the Brotherhood,” Harriet replied in a low voice.
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br />   I stuck my finger beneath the red wax seal and tore the letter open with shaking hands. I had faced dozens of these men in battle, had killed several of them pretty brutally, but holding this letter took me right back to that night before I had my powers, to the moment that my vision of a long joyful life with Connor was quite literally shattered.

  I felt a gentle hand on my shoulder that I knew without looking was Harriet’s, and the others gathered around to watch as I unfolded the sheet of cream-colored paper which had been tucked inside the envelope. Rows of thin black script ran down the page, and the message was much longer than the first one had been. I squinted down at it as the others leaned in around me to read under the soft yellow glow of the flickering lamppost:

  You are cordially invited to attend a spectacular display of Magick Malevolent. Witness the beginning of your end as the filthy hearts of thirteen witches bring about the rise of your vanquisher, the hero who will cure the world of the pestilence of witches. Thirteen hearts will become thousands.

  Festivities will be held at Seaside Cemetery this Tuesday at midnight beneath the new moon, with a special appearance by a surprise guest.

  If you are unable to attend, don’t despair. We will find you soon enough. The door to the demon realm will be thrown open, and your pretty little bubble will only protect you for so long. Lastly, congratulations on killing the four pawns you see before you. The Sacred Four truly are powerful.

  The same ornate letter A from the wax seal was stamped in blood-red ink at the bottom of the page like a signature, just as it had been in the first letter. This time, however, there was another signature next to it. It looked like a swirly backwards S, except the bottom loop was much larger than the top one. I realized it wasn’t meant to be a letter at all, but an abstract sketch of a swan…

  “She’s alive?” Sylvie asked incredulously.

  Before any of us could respond, the cream-colored letter suddenly burst into flames. I dropped it in surprise, and we all watched as it curled into a thin black cinder on the concrete.