Hidden Worlds

by Kristie Cook

  Stubbing my toe on a protruding rock that jutted out from the ground, I cried out as I tumbled to the ground. Weeping, I pulled myself back up and ran as fast as I could. I cut to the right when I thought I should, leaving the beaten path to create my own in the direction I hoped would lead me to Kace. Low limbs stabbed at me from all angles, slowing me down more than I liked as they scratched at my clothes and intertwined with my hair. I could hear the rustle of bushes and tree branches breaking and bending behind me as the creature tried to catch up.

  A clearing in the distance fueled me to run faster. Harder. I pushed myself, grinding my feet into the dirt and leaf-covered ground to gain more leverage against gravity and propel myself faster. My heart nearly exploded from my chest when I realized the clearing was not to an apartment complex, but instead the dirt road that led to the cliff.

  I paused for a spilt-second, bracing my hands on my knees, while I struggled to catch my breath and figure out what I was going to do now. I’d obviously passed Kace’s apartment, and there was no way I was going to backtrack. The creature came out of the thicket at my right, cutting off any thoughts I had of taking the road and forcing me to go left. I sprinted away from it as fast as I could, but exhaustion was taking its toll. I was slowing down. My heart hammered in my chest harder, my throat ached and burned as well as my lungs, and the tip of my big toe was sore and bleeding.

  The possibility of not being able to get away from the creature hit me dead in the stomach the moment I broke out into the clearing of the cliff. This feeling intensified when I realized who was standing there, seemingly waiting for me.

  Theo stood behind the makeshift bar, holding something in his left hand. I came to a complete standstill the moment I noticed him. My body shook uncontrollably as I eyed him with my palms out. What the hell was I going to do now? I was trapped.

  Worse, I was going to die. He and that thing would make sure of it.

  Theo’s eyes left me and locked on the creature that had to be gaining on me now. I didn’t know what expression I expected to see when he glanced at it, maybe some sense of horror, but what I saw instead was nothing. No emotion crossed his face at the sight of the horrendous little goblin thing chasing after me. When Theo’s eyes finally returned to mine, the expression he wore seemed conflicted somehow.

  “Come to me …” the creature hissed, standing someplace behind me. “Let me taste you.”

  I glanced over my shoulder to judge how close the creature was. Not liking the short distance, I did the only thing I could—I bolted for the cliff.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR - Tethered To Me

  Running as fast as I could, I held my breath and began to prepare myself mentally for the free fall I was about to make, while praying there were no large rocks waiting at the bottom. My eyes locked with Theo’s. I noticed his eyes widen as realization of what I was about to do sunk in. How much I was willing to sacrifice in order to get away from the creature.

  I glanced over my shoulder one last time to make sure the creature was still behind me and took note of its murderous gleam reflected in its eyes as it too realized what I was about to do. Maybe I was crazy, maybe it was the exhaustion or shock from the events leading up to this moment, but whatever the reason … I smiled. I was about to win. The creature wouldn’t get me, my soul, or my magick tonight, and neither would Theo or his family, if this was their doing, or whoever had hired them.

  The edge of the cliff rushed up to greet me, and I didn’t stop, I didn’t hesitate as I leapt into the air and tossed my arms out to my sides while closing my eyes tightly. People survived intense falls like this all the time. In fact, some even did stunts like this for fun. With nothing beneath me and nothing above, I felt freer than I ever had before.

  “Nooo,” the creature hissed loudly into the night.

  My eyes remained closed as I waited to begin the decent downward toward the crashing waves below. I didn’t want to see if there were rocks waiting for me. I could feel the air brushing against me from all sides, but the sinking feeling, the weightlessness of free falling into nothingness I had expected, never came.

  Opening my eyes, I realized why.

  Theo stood at the edge of the cliff, which was only a few feet away from me still, with his right hand extended toward me. The reason I hadn’t felt the sensation of falling toward the choppy waters below was because I wasn’t falling at all … I was suspended in midair.

  My eyes locked with Theo’s. They were determined and focused. He lifted his hand, and I went with it as I was carried on the wind he’d created back to the edge of the cliff to stand beside him. Warmth pulsated through me. It wiped all thought from my mind. As soon as my feet touched the earth again, everything around Theo and me seemed to fade away as we were encased in a perfect orb of white.

  Theo’s eyes found mine. His hand was still raised before him even though I now stood at his side. Questions and fears swirled within the caramel color of his eyes, and I wondered what he was thinking, what he was feeling, but mostly … what was happening and how he had done it. I was positive his expression of shock and utter confusion was mirrored on my own face.

  “What was once written, I now have changed,

  Something destined has now been rearranged.

  Hear my calling, answer my plea,

  Keep my darling daughter harm free.

  In her moment of future prophetic demise,

  I call to the power within me that lies,

  May a stranger await in the shadows at be,

  Let him wield a power that will save thee.

  Tethered together their souls shall see,

  An it harm none, so mote it be.”

  The words seemed to flow from everywhere and nowhere all at once. They were in my head and yet attached to the very wind. The voice was soft and pleasant to listen to, musical in all ways possible. I remained where I stood, my mind fumbling to wrap around the words and grasp their meaning. Where had they come from and who had spoken them? What did they mean?

  Without warning the whiteness that had encased Theo and me inside its sphere burst into tiny white butterflies, which fluttered away on the wind. I stared, stunned and dazed by the beauty of it all. Holding out my hand, a single butterfly, its wings paper thin and a brilliant shade of white, landed on the tip of my finger. I smiled as it clasped its wings together quickly, as though taking a break, and then fluttered away once more.

  I could still feel Theo’s eyes on me and I shifted to glance at him. He glared at me with a smoldering look that made my heart skip a beat or two and my stomach sink all the way to my toes.

  “What the hell just happened? What did you do?” he growled in a low, rumbling tone through gritted teeth.

  “What did I do—what did you—?” I never got to finish my sentence. The red creature I’d forgotten lunged at me. Its claw-like fingers gripped my upper arm before I could dart away this time.

  I closed my eyes as I shrank away and let out a startled scream. Its grip was tight one minute and then gone the next. Flickering light lit the insides of my eyelids. Opening my eyes, I realized where the light came from—the creature had somehow burst into flames.

  I watched wide-eyed as it dropped to the ground and rolled around in agonizing pain. Its red flesh oozed from its bones and bubbled beside it along the ground. The screams and cries that stemmed from it pierced the night air around me and made the fine hairs along the back of my neck and across my arms stand on end.

  And then … the screams stopped.

  The creature turned to pure black ash before my eyes and was carried away by the nighttime ocean breeze, leaving nothing besides a scorched mark on the ground where it had been. Anyone who saw the spot would think some idiot had started a fire outside of the designated fire pit at some point and never give it a second thought.

  “Did I do that?” I asked in a hushed whisper.

  “No, root magick against one another … it’s a Hoodoo law.”

  Hoodoo law? Root magick? It was th
en that I noticed what Theo had been holding in his hand the entire time—roots. My pulse picked up pace as I shifted my eyes from the dirt-covered roots he held to his face.

  “But I’m not Hoodoo,” I insisted as my stomach muscles tightened. “I don’t even know what Hoodoo really is.”

  Theo glared at me. He gritted his teeth together and every vein in his neck popped out on display. “No, you’re not Hoodoo … but because of that spell, you’re tethered to me now, which means nothing Hoodoo can harm you.”

  And with that, Theo walked away, leaving me standing on the cliff, surrounded by darkness. My limbs trembled as adrenaline began to fade from my system, but my mind still swirled dizzily with his words, those of the spell I’d heard, and images I couldn’t begin to understand. Everything weaved its way through my mind, numbing me suddenly from the inside out.

  Finally, my mind settled on three things, each of them standing out like a brightly shining star in an obsidian night sky.

  One, no one could do anymore Hoodoo on me.

  Two, Theo was an Elemental somehow as well as a practicing Hoodoo person.

  And three, I was now tethered to him, whatever that meant.

  Story continues in CONJURE

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  Darkness of Light

  by

  Stacey Marie Brown

  ONE

  What a terrifying mess this night turned out to be. I hadn’t even wanted to come, but I’d lost a bet with Ryan. It was only one night. One stupid dance. How bad could it be?

  Aren’t those always the fateful, last words?

  I scanned the decorated gym. Cheesy cardboard cutouts and paper streamers dangled from the ceiling. Red and black balloons and huge paper mache masks tried to cover up the basketball hoops and the school mascot painted on the walls. It didn’t make the gym look any better, nor did it take away the slight stench of sweat and dirty socks.

  “You really thought this would be fun?” I looked at my two friends, Ryan and Kennedy.

  Ryan shrugged. “It’s our last year. I thought we should at least come to one of these things.”

  “You’re regretting that idea about now, aren’t you?” I crossed my arms, a smug grin playing on my lips. It quickly turned to a grimace when the music changed into an obnoxious pop song.

  “Oh, yeah.” Ryan sighed deeply.

  “Come on, guys, let’s make the best of it. We got all dressed up.” Kennedy’s soft voice barely carried to me. This was so typical Kennedy, always trying to see the positive in everything.

  Kennedy wasn’t the girl who got noticed, especially by the boys in school. I could see the true beauty in her porcelain skin. Ryan always teased how Kennedy was the sweet one, I was the salty, and he was the spice. We had been friends since junior high, when people became cool and uncool. I don’t think I have to say in what group we landed.

  “I promise you, if we can leave, I’ll wear my sweats with ruffles on them if that makes you happy,” I said.

  “First, I know there is no way you would own anything with frills on it. Second, if you did have sweats with ruffles, you would have found a way to have worn them tonight,” Kennedy replied, adjusting her glasses on her nose.

  “True.” I nodded.

  “You guys want something to drink?” Ryan motioned to the beverage stand.

  My heart thumped faster. The gorgeous Ben Harris stood in line. I was not the type of girl who crushed on the popular guy, but Ben was different. We’d sat next to each other in class, and I’d gotten to know him.

  “I’ll go get them,” I said quickly.

  “Uh-huh.” Ryan smirked. “I bet you will.”

  “What?” I tried to sound innocent. It didn’t work for me. They knew me too well. “We’re only friends.”

  “Uh-huh … sure,” they said in unison.

  I waved them off and headed for the refreshment stand. “Whatever.”

  I stood behind Ben for a couple of seconds and gathered my wits before tapping him on the shoulder. I smiled. “Hey.”

  Ben’s face lit up upon seeing me. “Ember.” His smile made me feel a strange, nauseated giddiness inside. “I didn’t know you were coming. I thought you said you didn’t come to these things?”

  I shrugged. “I lost a bet.”

  “Well, I’m glad you did.” His eyes ran over my body. “You look good … I mean beautiful.”

  I wasn’t used to compliments, especially from cute, popular guys. Looking away, I gripped my fingers together, twisting them anxiously. “Uh-t-th-thank you. So you do. I mean, so do you … look good, I mean.”

  There was my astounding wit I wanted to use—gone to hell.

  He smiled. “Thanks. Maybe you would like to dan—”

  “Ben. There you are,” Kallie Parson cut in and stood in front of me. She was everything you pictured a popular cheerleader to be—tall, blonde, and beautiful. She was not shy about flaunting her perfect body in a skintight, dark blue, sparkly dress.

  “You’re needed at the DJ stand right now for the announcement of the Valentine’s Cupid Couple.”

  Ben glanced at me, then back to Kallie.

  “Go, sweetie. Hurry!” She shooed him toward the stage.

  He finally nodded. “I’ll see you later, Em.” He turned and disappeared into the crowd.

  Kallie swung around and acknowledged my presence. Her eyes skimmed over me and examined me from head to toe before landing of my face. She then burst out laughing. “Awww, how sweet is that? You think he likes you … the popular boy falling for the misunderstood, freak girl.”

  She’d been after me for months now. It had become an all-out attack involving months of cruel jokes and verbal abuse when Ben and I had been partnered for an assignment in English class.

  Ben was gorgeous and at the top of the food chain in our school. He was the basketball star and every girl’s wet-dream. Kallie tried daily to claim him as hers. After years of my thinking he was a stuck-up, rich guy, he turned out really nice and shy. The more friendly we got, the more Kallie was set on obtaining him and crushing me.

  I shook my head. “Wow. That was so blatantly sad.”

  “You’re calling me sad? You should look in a mirror,” Kallie replied, her eyes blazing. “I didn’t know they let witches and freaks come to school dances. Isn’t it against your pagan religion or something?”

  This wasn’t the first time I got comments about brooms, black cats, or other clichÉs about witches. With my unusual looks and the odd things that happened around me, weird comments and insults were the norm. “Do you have any idea what you’re talking about? Or has that dress squeezed out your last surviving brain cell?”

  Kallie stepped closer to me. “Jealous? Don’t be mad because your dress looks like a hand-me-down from the Walmart dumpster.”

  I clenched my teeth. I should not let her get to me.

  “Why don’t you, plain Jane, and the gay Teletubby over there go home and play on your Ouija board?”

  My repressed anger was reaching its crescendo. Tormenting me was one thing, but my friends were off limits. Rage I normally tried to keep on a tight leash started to break free. The darkness that lived deep inside me and I kept concealed from the world stirred. Trying to find its way out of a cage, it was like a monster I couldn’t control.

  “Look, I couldn’t care less if you like me or not, but don’t you dare talk about my friends like that,” I threatened.

  “Or you’ll what? Hit me with your voodoo magic?” There was amusement but also a touch of fear in her smile. She was scared of me—most of the school was.

  A wave of uncontrollable emotion gripped me. I heard a cracking from above; a single spark fell from the ceiling. All I could focus on was my deep-seated fury. “Shut-up.” My voice broke through my gritted teeth. “You know nothing about me.”

  “I know you’re deluding yourself into thinking people actually like you.” Kallie sneered. “And your friends are as weir
d and insignificant as you are.”

  Blistering anger uncoiled and catapulted from every cell in my body. “Listen, you pathetically-trite anorexic bitch …”

  ***

  The lights above my head started to explode, drowning out the rest of my words. Kallie screamed as sparks and glass rained on us. Students and teachers shielded themselves from the showering debris. Lights flickered on and off, causing a strobe light effect in the gym. Then, everything exploded.

  I stared around in shock as crepe paper and cardboard decorations turned to fireballs before disintegrating into ash as they hit the floor. Balloons popped like machine guns. Glass and metal whined and moaned, cracking under the pressure. Chaos took over order and reason. Everyone screamed and ran in every direction. Sounds and movements were so muted to me it felt like there was thick glass between myself and everyone else.

  People pushed past, knocking me off balance. The back of my legs hit an overturned chair, and I crashed to the floor, my elbows and back taking the brunt of the fall. Pain zipped up my arms and back. Students kicked and tripped over me as they fled the gym. I curled myself into a protective ball to absorb the trampling herd, and my eyes caught the glitter of reflected light.

  The disco ball tore from its tether. Falling, it smashed to the floor with a thunderous roar and shattered into a thousand pieces. Fragments of mirror flew like slivered missiles. A sharp pain flashed across my forehead. Warm blood spilled from the cut and trickled down the side of my face. I covered my head, protecting the rest of my face from the tiny pieces of glass and plastic launching at me from the falling wreckage.

  TWO

  Fire engines wailed in the distance. Broken glass and debris dug into my arms and legs as I lay crumpled on the gym floor. Blood dripped from my forehead and arms. I groaned, sat up, and looked around. The gym was empty. Everyone, including the teachers and the chaperones, were gone.