“I keep hearing this skittering noise, like toenails on tile.”
“What the frig is wrong with you, man? That’s freaky.”
I almost conceded that was freaky, when I heard it again. I started to ask Dave if he did too when I watched his face and realized, oh yeah, he did. Dave’s face had frozen in a mask of fear, and all the color had drained from it. Like, to the color white. I whirled around to identify what could cause that fear in my burly best friend. And then, the puzzle piece snapped into place, because I didn’t just hear the noise, I saw the noise maker. Make that noise makers. Plural. As in way more than one. Because an army of rats stood at the other end of the aisle we were in. Moving back and forth in a pack, I realized the sound I heard had to be their tiny claws as they clicked on the cement floor. Dave and I started taking involuntary steps backward and that’s when the mass of rats started moving forward toward us.
“Where the heck did they come from!” yelled Dave. But that wasn’t my main concern. Grabbing my attention now were shuddering and twitching rats with their skin rolling under their fur. I had seen the exact same thing last night when the demons at the dance shape-‐‑shifted into rats. These rodents were so much worse. As they got closer, several of them seemed to jump into the air repeatedly, like popping corn, and I knew my fears were about to be realized. At almost the same time, I could make out Sully’s voice outside at the loading dock. I didn’t even know he’d gone out there. “Oh no! What are you doing! What the…..” A loud thump cut off Sully’s voice. Dave stared at me, stricken. He started to run out to the loading dock toward Sully but he, too, got cut off. One of the rats had popped up, and in a split second I watched its horrific transformation. Its body jerked and convulsed and exploded in a spray of blood and guts and innards and in its place stood one of the same demons from last night’s dance. A mere seconds later five more rats exploded the same way sending fine sprays of blood all over the floor of the warehouse and presently there stood six demons standing between Dave and me and Sully on the loading dock. An impossibly tall figure stepped from the shadows.
Dressed in black and red and, Jeez, did he have on a cape? A handsome man, even I could tell that, he walked toward us stopping just short of the pack of demons. They parted wordlessly for him to pass and he came right up to Dave and me. As he did so, the remaining rats galloped past us and went to stand beside the demons, like an extension of his army. He appraised us coolly and decided I’d be his audience. He stepped in front of me.
“My name is Christophe. It appears it is time we meet.” His voice rumbled, deep and gravelly. He didn’t extend his hand, he just continued looking me over. He leaned in closer, like an animal would, trying to smell me, and beside me Dave tensed. From the corner of my eye, I could feel Dave’s fists clench and I thought, No, Dave that would be the wrong move. As if he could read my mind, the evil man named Christophe lazily gave his attention to Dave, almost as an afterthought. His arm shot out and he grabbed Dave’s throat and lifted him about three feet off the ground. He glanced back at me and continued talking as though Dave were an annoyance he had just removed.
“You have become something of a puzzle to me, young man.
You have something I want. So, as in all fair enterprises, I believe I will think of something you want, and we will make a trade. How does that sound, Master Logan?”
“I think you should just leave us all alone.” I don’t know where I got the brass ones to say that because brave never was comfortable on me.
The sorcerer-‐‑king laughed then, abruptly and powerfully.
He let go of Dave, dropping him nearly the whole three feet he had been dangling him this entire time. Dave landed with an audible thud and I could hear the sickening sound of a bone snapping. He yelped in pain and I shot a quick glance at him. I could tell from the odd angle of his elbow that it likely had been broken. This had gotten out of hand. Now I got mad! This, this tool invades my friend’s store, brings his freakshow with him, starts making demands on me, and now instead of bringing down the hurt on me, he brings it down on my friends, friends I have known my whole life. And now friends who would do anything to protect me and were even ready to take on these jerks were now lying around this stupid warehouse hurt because of me. BECAUSE OF ME! I had to DO something. I searched around for something, anything I could do. My eyes landed on the heavy metal frames of the product shelves. Man, I wished those shelves were closer. The demons were standing near them and if I could reach them, and shove them hard enough, I could get them to fall one on top of another, right on the stupid pack of demons. All of a sudden, a tremendous creaking noise filled the stale air, and they did start to fall. I thought we were having an earthquake or something when Serena’s voice began to echo in my head.
No, Logan. You’re doing it. I knew you had it in you.
I must be crazy now. But I kept mentally pushing those metal shelves as hard as I could, till my head hurt. But they finally toppled over. And then chaos broke loose.
When the shelves hit the demons they all started screaming like stabbed cats. The metal end of the shelving unit split one of them in two and the two halves transformed into, like, a hundred spiders that scattered and scurried away. Two other demons were flattened in a second. What remained? A sticky puddle of black oil.
The other demons escaped the falling shelf but immediately shifted back into the rat form and joined the crowd fleeing the warehouse.
Dave commando-‐‑crawled to the loading dock and yelled to me that he had found Sully, unconscious, but breathing, and that he seemed okay. Christophe watched the unfolding scene impassively.
“Well, Logan. It seems you have some unreported talents. I will take my leave, now. But rest assured, young warrior. We will meet again.” And before my eyes, Christophe disappeared in a cloud of black smoke.
I surveyed the scene before me. The warehouse resembled Beirut. The shelves were all torn down domino-‐‑style, sporting goods strewn helter-‐‑skelter all over the place. The floor had been stained with rodent guts and demon death-‐‑juice. Did that just happen? How could I hide that mess from Dave and Sully now? I headed out to the loading ramp to check up on them. And to start my explanations.
****
Dave and I sat with Sully on the loading dock for about a half hour after he came to. He didn’t remember much and couldn’t tell me what caused him to black out. He had a huge headache and we finally put him in the back of my car to rest more comfortably. I could tell how badly this freaked Dave out. And how much he got hurt. His arm had some pain but being in shock helped to numb it for now. I had no idea how to explain to Sully what exactly happened inside the warehouse. I tried to formulate a plausible story in my head when a car came screeching up. Right away I noticed it as the rental car Eden and her coven sisters had parked in front of Serena’s house. The passenger door flew open even before the car had come to a complete stop and Serena jumped out. She ran across the parking lot and up the ramp before I could blink twice and threw herself in my arms.
“Oh Logan, we foresaw it happening and we just couldn’t get here fast enough. I screamed at Eden to go faster but we just couldn’t.”
She buried her face in my chest, sobbing. I checked to see who drove and watched Eden emerge from the front seat. Then the back door opened and a new person I’d never met got out. She walked right over to Serena and me.
“Logan, hello. I’m Prudence. We haven’t met yet, but I must say, I observed what you did and I like your style. Nice work with the shelves.” She took my hand and pumped it, hard and fast. She was shorter than Eden, with silver hair down to her shoulders. She had earrings on made of feathers that went down past her hair, and violet eyes.
Eden hurried over.
“Logan, Prudence is a new addition to our little cadre. She’s another of my ‘sisters’,” she said for Dave’s benefit, who was taking in this whole scene with great interest.
“Logan,” whispered Serena, “Prudence is clairvoyant. We prop
hesied everything. You were so amazing. So brave. I’ve never been more proud of you. Are you surprised by what you did?”
“Surprised? Try stunned. I’m still not even sure I did it. Are you sure you didn’t whip up a spell from home or something?”
“One hundred percent. All you. All totally you.”
“Well, I’ve got to work on my cleanliness. I trashed the warehouse.”
Serena laughed. “I know. Occupational hazard. Let us work on it. I think there is something we can do about it.” She called Eden over and they whispered for a moment, gestured toward Dave, who was still eyeing the newcomers with suspicion, then indicated Sully, still sleeping in the back of my car. Eden nodded her head in understanding and she and Prudence headed into the warehouse.
“Hey, where are they going?” asked Dave. “Don’t they know what a mess it is back there?”
“Yeah, um, I think that’s kind of the point.” I told Dave.
Man, this could be one legendary-‐‑long explanation.
“Logan,” whispered Serena again, “I can help you there, too.”
“What, another forgetfulness spell? No, I think I need to man up with Dave. He’s earned it.” I pointed to his arm, which he held gingerly. The pain must be starting to intensify now. I could see it on his face. I needed to get him to a hospital.
“No, I mean let me help with his arm and with what happened here tonight. Let me do that for you.” Without waiting for an answer, Serena stepped toward Dave. With a gentle tone, she said, “Hi Dave, can I touch your arm?” Without hesitation, he gave her a goofy smile and held it up for her. She took it in her right hand and waved her left hand over it, back and forth. She closed her eyes and started murmuring under her breath. She leaned forward and her hair dragged across Dave’s arm. Delicately she began to straighten his arm out. He did not stop her. With one quick move she snapped the arm straight and I winced when the bone cracked. By all rights Dave should have screamed in pain, but he just kept smiling that same dreamy smile at her. When she finished working on his arm, she reached for his other hand and held them both. I watched while she planted my explanation in his mind, using the one trick I wanted to learn. It seemed so much easier than struggling through the actual thing, choosing the right words, gauging someone’s reaction, and waiting for the inevitable emotions. I couldn’t wait to know how to do it.
She finished just as Eden and Prudence reemerged from the warehouse.
“Logan, I believe we have returned the storage facility to its original state. Please forgive us if we missed something. Certainly we did our best.” Eden came up to me and placed her hand on my shoulder. “Based on the scene, you waged quite a battle. Quick thinking on your feet, lad. Well done!”
Serena released Dave’s hands. They dropped, limp to his sides. “We better go now, Logan,” Serena said, “Dave will snap out of this in a couple minutes. You’ll tell him you and he finished the un-‐‑loading and were taking a small break, that Sully got a headache and went to rest in your car.” She grabbed my face with both of her hands. “Please go straight home after dropping Dave and Sully off. I don’t want anything else to happen to you.
Tomorrow is Monday, Logan. And we’re all going to school. Till the morning, then, okay? I’m so proud of you.” And she leaned over and kissed me and just like that, they were gone.
Chapter Fifteen
SERENA
Eden, Prudence and I drove back home in silence. I knew this silence would be short-‐‑lived, however. The Council had made their intentions clear and to the most unlikely messenger, Logan.
And they had drawn first blood. Eden had determined the time had come to rally our troops and she gathered the rest of her coven sisters. Prudence had been the first to arrive, and I only now allowed myself to realize how fortunate that had been. My sister Elizabeth had been dispatched to Logan’s house to inform his mother of all that had transpired. Lily had listened dispassionately, to her credit. While being horrified, and genuinely concerned for her son’s safety, she must also have been proud of the way her son had been able to call upon his talents in his time of need.
Back home, Elizabeth began to ready our house for the additional guests. Our home used to be a five-‐‑bedroom house. If I had worried before about the size of our house accommodating all the extra people, I should have remembered a simple thing like adding on to a house wouldn’t be any bother to a witch with powers such as Eden and her friends. In no time at all I became aware of a new hallway off from the den and, just like that, we had a new wing off of the right side of our home. A cursory glance confirmed to me that now, at least four more bedrooms existed down that hall, each with the capacity for double occupancy, and complete with separate bathrooms. Another peek inside the rooms and I noted that they were nicely appointed with beds, nightstands, bureaus, and dressing areas. Everything a visiting witch might require, I thought wryly.
The dinner hour had been a stiff affair. Everyone was still tense since the scene at Logan’s friend’s warehouse. I called Logan at home to check on things at his house and he related things were pretty much the same over there.
“My mom’s pretty warped at me for even going to Sully’s in the first place.” he said. “She said I should have checked with her before I went out. But I’ve never done that before. The rules are changing so fast, it’s hard to keep up.”
“I know. It’s the same here. We were sitting around putting together a lesson plan when I picked you up in clear distress in my head. Since that happened to be the first time I had read you so clearly, I almost spilled a drink I held at the time. Elizabeth wasn’t sure what spooked me, but Eden picked up on it right away. It seemed odd.” I chewed it over in my mind. “It’s almost as if she needed the Council to make their first move, and then they did.”
“Heck of a first move.”
“I’m so sorry they chose you, Logan.”
“And Dave.” I remembered that cracking sound when his arm hit the cement. “I can’t imagine how bad that hurt when that freak broke his arm.”
“That freak, as you put it, is a demon, and demons have unprecedented powers. I’m glad that’s all he did. It worries me what Christophe said to you.”
“What? The part where he said he wants to make a trade?
He doesn’t have anything I want.”
“That’s the part that has us worried. He doesn’t have anything now. He could be biding his time. He has nothing to lose by waiting. Eden says he will wait now for us to let down our guard, make a mistake. We have been careful about me, now we have to be careful with you as well.”
“Careful with me how?” I could tell he bristled over the phone at the suggestion. I realized it might be harder to try and cage this animal than I thought.
“I just meant we have to be vigilant, Logan. That’s all. Look out for anything different, suspicious, out of the ordinary.”
Logan laughed out loud.
“You must be joking, Serena! In the past two weeks, every single thing in my life is different, suspicious and out of the ordinary. Let’s recap, shall we; my girlfriend is a witch. Oh, and so are her sisters, her houseguests, my mother, and my sister. Rats and spiders could be demons, or they could just be rats and spiders, no way to tell. Rosebushes are trying to protect you by attacking me and something demonic is trying to kidnap me or kill me, we aren’t sure. Do I have all of that about right? Out of the ordinary?
Welcome to my life!” He sounded dangerously close to losing it.
“Logan? Are you okay?”
He didn’t answer. I knew him well enough now to know that he wanted to gather his thoughts and he needed a minute. I waited and let him have his time. In a moment he spoke.
“Yeah, I’m okay. I’m sorry, Serena. That might have been out of hand. Sometimes it gets to me a little and I need to reel it in.”
He took a deep breath and let it out noisily. “I’m here. I am here.”
“We’re expecting so much from you, sweet Logan. You’re allowed t
o melt down once in a while. You wouldn’t be human if you didn’t.”
“Well, we all know I’m human, right?” He laughed a little and he sounded stronger. He sounded more like himself.
“That’s the part of you I love the best, Logan.”
“I’m sure glad you said that right now, Serena. In fact, hearing that now -‐‑-‐‑-‐‑ good timing, baby.” He sounded so tender I wanted to rush right over there and fit myself into his arms.
“I’ll say it again to you first thing in the morning when you take me to school. Eden wants us to go. She wants us to carry on like normal. I better get to bed now. And you need some sleep. You must be exhausted. Using powers drains you.”
“I am kind of tired. Is that why? I’m usually never tired this early.”
“Yes. Until you are more practiced, it saps your natural energy. Now go to sleep, sweetie. And have sweet dreams.”
“In spite of everything tonight, when your voice is the last one in my ear at night, I always do. I love you, Serena.”
“And I love you, Logan. Good night.” I hung up the phone with Logan’s face still swirling in my mind long after I stopped hearing the dial tone. I couldn’t wait to be with him tomorrow morning. Thinking about the next day made me feel anxious. I felt nervous about going to school on Monday. I knew that we had wiped away the memory of the debacle at the school dance Saturday night from anyone’s mind, so no danger of anyone remembering what had gone on existed. Still, I had concerns about Natalie and her entourage.
It seemed hard to believe that the dance and the events at the sports equipment warehouse had all occurred on the same weekend. It told us one thing for certain: The members of the Council had shown themselves to be dead serious. The only thing no one had told me yet? Why did they want me? I understood about the special gene I supposedly had, and that I may have received it from my mother, alleged to be another all-‐‑powerful witch. The only thing I didn’t get yet was how would I be important to Christophe or the Council? For some reason, on this question Eden seemed either unwilling or unable to answer. In fact, the question seemed to make her uncomfortable. I hoped she would tell me when the rest of her coven-‐‑sisters finally arrived.
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