by Brian Harmon
It didn’t make any sense.
Finally, they reached the parking lot.
There was no one here when they went into the woods. Now, however, there was a drunk man stumbling between the parked vehicles. As Eric made his way to the driver’s side of the PT Cruiser, the man grinned stupidly at him and gave him a thumbs up.
“What was that all about?” he asked as he sat behind the wheel and dropped the cell phone and charger back into the cup holder.
Holly sat down in the passenger seat and looked at him, her pretty features still tightened with anger. “Probably something to do with that lipstick all over your face.”
“What?” He leaned over and looked into the rearview mirror. She was right. Mistress Janet left the evidence of that awful encounter all over his face.
Clearly, the drunk must’ve thought the lipstick was Holly’s…
Somehow he found that even more embarrassing than the truth.
He tried to wipe it away, but it didn’t want to come off.
“Here.” She reached out and turned his head toward her, then licked her thumb and began rubbing at it.
Mom spit. He felt five years old again.
But he didn’t dwell on it. Instead, he was distracted by the tears he saw running down her face. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Just pissed.”
“Can we talk about it?”
She shook her head. “No. We need to find out what that nasty woman’s up to.”
“Okay.”
They were quiet for a moment.
Then Eric said. “You know I didn’t enjoy that, right?”
“What?”
“What happened back there. Her…attacking me like that. It was awful.”
She looked at him as if that were the craziest thing she’d ever heard. “Of course it was awful. I mean, gross! That woman was vile.” She shook her head. She still looked angry, but now tears had sprung to her eyes again. “Those things she said about Sylvia… It was sick.”
Sylvia’s death was a tragedy. Not finding a way to save her was arguably Eric’s greatest regret so far. And that woman had twisted it into a disgusting, perverted fantasy.
Of course it had upset Holly. He felt like an insensitive fool for thinking this was about him.
She wiped the tears from her face again. “I’m sorry.”
“You’re fine. Really.”
“I always try to put on a happy face for everyone,” she said. “But the truth is it was hard to leave my family behind. Especially after losing four of them. I guess I never had the chance to grieve properly.”
He wasn’t sure what to say. He hadn’t realized she was still feeling so much pain. It was like she said, she always presented such a happy face. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault. You and Karen and Isabelle… Everyone… You guys all make me happy. You really do. And I’m usually a lot stronger than this.”
“You are one of the strongest people I know,” he agreed.
She gave him a smile. “You’re so sweet.” Then she sniffed and sat up a little straighter. “But we’ve got work to do.”
Eric nodded. “She said she had business at the school. I’m guessing it has something to do with your vision.”
“The high school,” she agreed. She licked her thumb again. “Almost done.”
“Thank you.”
“Just promise me you’re going to take that crazy bitch down.”
He nodded. Contrary to what that woman might’ve believed, he didn’t like having anyone’s death on his conscience, not even vile, dangerous people like her. But it seemed that was the way these encounters were always fated to end.
His phone rang. It was Paul.
He’d nearly forgotten about Paul and Kevin. They were keeping an eye on Steampunk Monk. Hopefully they were having a better day than he was.
“What’s up?” he answered.
“We lost the son of a bitch,” said Paul.
“That’s okay. Don’t worry about it.”
Holly finished wiping away the lipstick on his face and then took Hector’s letter from her pocket and held it out for him to take.
“How soon can you pick us up?” asked Paul.
Eric motioned at the glove compartment. That was the safest place he knew to keep them. “Right now, actually. Where are you?”
“Behind the thrift store on Willow Street, by the donations entrance. Hurry.”
Eric didn’t like the tone of his voice. “Is everything all right?”
“No. It’s not. It’s Kevin. He’s fucking blind.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
When Eric and Holly pulled into the thrift store parking lot, Paul was standing in the shade of the building, near the donations entranceway. It was immediately clear that he was agitated. He was fidgety. He kept looking around to make sure no one was coming.
Sitting on the ground next to him was Kevin. His broad shoulders were slumped. His face was buried in his hands. And he looked grimy, as if he’d been out working all day.
“What happened?” asked Eric as he jumped out of the vehicle.
“Hell if I know,” replied Paul. “We were following that weirdo, keeping our distance like we said we would. He never showed any sign that he saw us. But then he got real interested in the alley between the tobacco store and that barber shop. That was where we lost him.”
“He must’ve gone out the other side,” reasoned Kevin. He was speaking clearly enough. He certainly didn’t sound like he was in pain.
“It was a big cloud of black smoke,” said Paul. “I have no idea where it came from. It just started gushing right out of the ground, right at his feet. Scary shit.”
That explained why he looked dirty, Eric realized. It was soot from that smoke.
Holly knelt down beside Kevin and gently pried his hands away from his face. “Easy,” she said.
“Holly?”
“That’s right. Does it hurt?”
He shook his head. “It stung a little at first, but it doesn’t hurt now.”
It would’ve fooled Eric. Both eyes were red, swollen and watery. He looked like he’d taken a face full of pepper spray.
“Little itchy,” he admitted.
“Aw…” She squeezed his hands. “Poor guy…”
Eric glanced down at her. Her eyes were shimmering again, as if Kevin’s plight were breaking her heart. She was a sympathetic and comforting girl by nature, but this felt like another of those odd mood swings she’d been having all afternoon, like it was out of proportion with who she really was.
Besides, she usually kept her distance from Kevin. In addition to all the magical skills taught to her by Delphinium and her grandfather, she also possessed one very useful natural talent: She had the ability to see people for who and what they really were. It had served her well when she was living on the streets because she always knew who truly wanted to help her and who merely wanted to use and abuse her. And when it came to Kevin, she knew that he was a good person, but she also knew that he harbored a deep and somewhat immature fascination with the knowledge that she used to be a stripper.
“I didn’t know what to do,” said Paul. “I almost called an ambulance, but I had no freaking idea what to tell them. So I called you first.”
Eric knelt down beside Kevin and Holly. “Ever see anything like this before?” he asked her.
“Not from mystery smoke,” she admitted. “But I know of a spell that has the same effect.”
“You know a spell to blind someone?” he asked.
“I know of a spell to blind someone. I don’t know the spell. Only Del knows it.”
“I’m already blind,” Kevin reminded them. “Do you have a spell to un-blind me?”
“Del might know a counter-curse. But that’s to undo a spell. I don’t even know if this had anything to do with magic.”
Eric looked at his cell phone. “Anything?”
I DON’T FEEL ANY MAGIC ENERGY. OR ANY ENERGY, FOR THAT MATTER. IT COUL
D BE ANYTHING
He turned and looked at Paul. “Tell me exactly what happened. Every detail.”
“There’s not much detail to tell. Like I said, we saw the weirdo go into that alley.” He gestured back toward Main Street. “But we were almost a block back and on the other side of the street. By the time we reached it, he wasn’t anywhere to be seen. We went in to try to pick up his trail.”
“There was something on the ground,” said Kevin. “I never saw it. Stepped on it. Felt like something broke. Like peanut shells or something. Next thing I knew I was choking on that black smoke.”
“It was like a geyser,” recalled Paul. “I was a few steps behind him, so I didn’t get suckered by it like he did. I held my breath and closed my eyes and yanked him out of it, which must’ve worked, because I’m fine. I thought he was, too, by looking at him, but he wasn’t. He’s completely blind.”
“Not completely,” said Kevin. He lifted his head and blinked up at the sky. “Everything was black when it first happened. Now everything’s kind of whitish.”
“Could be temporary,” hoped Holly.
“Or it could cause some serious long-term damage,” said Eric. “We have no idea what was in that smoke.”
“I like Holly’s attitude better,” decided Kevin. And he did seem to be enjoying the extra attention, even if he couldn’t see.
“Any clue what the creep was up to?” asked Eric.
“None,” replied Paul. “All he was doing was walking around and looking at stuff. We figure he’s using those glasses to chart all the invisible places you and Aiden found last year.”
It made sense. By now, he was sure to know about most of Creek Bend’s unseen, including the old schoolhouse.
He stood up. “Take me to the alley. Show me the spot.”
“What about Kevin?”
“I’ll stay with him,” promised Holly.
“You don’t think we should get him to the hospital?”
Eric looked at his nephew, concerned. “I don’t know, honestly. It’s like you said, I don’t have any idea what to tell the doctors.”
“If it does turn out to be magic,” said Holly, “a doctor won’t be able to do much for him anyway. We need to figure out what that smoke was.”
Paul nodded. He didn’t say anything else. He turned and led the way back to the scene of the crime. Eric could tell he was troubled, and he didn’t blame him one bit.
The alley was narrow and empty, but dark, even in the daylight. The weeds had taken over. It was no wonder Kevin didn’t see what was on the ground in front of him. It was difficult to even see the ground in most places.
“It was right there,” said Paul, pointing to a place where the weeds had turned black under a layer of thick soot. It was undoubtedly the spot where Kevin was standing. It looked like a smoke bomb had gone off there.
Careful not to get anything dangerous on his hands, he knelt down and examined the ground. There were several small, plastic capsules scattered in the weeds, like the ones he remembered getting out of those quarter vending machines that used to be in every store lobby when he was a kid. Put a coin in the slot, turn the knob and get a tiny, useless toy.
But these didn’t have toys in them. They had some kind of grayish powder. Several were crushed, what little powder remained was burned black. Those would be the ones Kevin stepped on.
He looked closer. The ground here was soaked with some kind of oil. The whole area had a very unpleasant, pungent smell about it.
It didn’t take much to deduce the logic behind this trap. When the capsules were broken, they spilled the powder onto the ground, where it mixed with the oil, leading to some kind of chemical reaction. Isabelle was right. There was no magic here. Only science.
Or was it?
Carefully, he picked up one of the unbroken capsules and peered through the clear plastic at the powder within. He’d never heard of a chemical reaction that produced a thick, black smoke that could blind a person.
Maybe there was some magic involved after all.
Or maybe the science was not of this world. Maybe this stuff came from one of those other worlds like he kept running across. Maybe there were different chemical reactions on the other sides of fissures and portals.
The possibilities were truly endless when it came to the weird.
He gathered up a few more of the intact capsules. If all else failed, they could send these to the hospital with Kevin so that they could at least try to deduce what caused his blindness.
“What’s this guy’s deal, anyway?” asked Paul. “Why’s he here? What’s he after?”
Eric stood up, careful not to break any of the capsules. There was oil on some of them. Some of it had transferred to his fingers. If one were to pop open now, it might burn his hand off, for all he knew. Fortunately, the oil itself didn’t seem to have any immediate effects on its own. Although he still intended to wash his hands as soon as possible. “I’m not sure, but they might be trying to summon another jinn.”
“Why the holy hell would anyone want to do that?”
He held out the capsules. “Why would anyone want to do this?”
“Point taken.”
“I think I met this guy’s partner while you were following him.”
“Another freak?”
Eric nodded. “You have no idea.”
“Any idea how you’re going to stop them?”
“Not a clue.”
They walked back to the thrift shop parking lot, where Kevin and Holly were waiting for them.
“How’s he doing?” asked Eric.
“I’m optimistic,” said Holly.
“You usually are.”
“I am. But I really think this is only a temporary thing.”
“I think I can see some shapes now,” reported Kevin.
“How many fingers am I holding up?” asked Paul.
He squinted in his father’s general direction. “I don’t need to see for that. The answer’s always one when you ask that question.”
Paul grinned. “He’s right. It is.”
“Come on,” said Holly, taking one of Kevin’s hands. “Let’s get you into the car.” But as he started to get up, she let out a startled yelp and then smacked him hard on the top of his head.
“Ow! Sorry! I’m blind, remember?”
That sweet sympathy was gone. Back again was her lightning-fast temper. “You’ll be worse than blind if you don’t keep your hands to yourself!” she warned, smacking him again.
“I was reaching for your other hand! It was an accident! I swear!”
“Don’t think I won’t curse you!”
“It was an accident!”
Eric looked over at Paul and caught him grinning again.
“What? He’s blind, remember?”
Chapter Twenty-Six
“I can definitely make out some shapes now,” reported Kevin as he sat in the back seat, blinking at the passing scenery.
Holly was sitting next to him, her arms crossed, her lips pressed tightly together.
“That’s something at least,” said Eric. He still wasn’t convinced that waiting it out was the right thing to do. What if blindness was only the first symptom of whatever that strange smoke did to him? What if they were wasting valuable time? But Kevin insisted on letting it run its course and seeing what happened.
Besides, what kind of trouble might it bring them if they took the mysterious, gray powder to a doctor and tried to explain what happened? They could all be tied up for hours while the steampunk monk and Mistress Janet burned the city to the ground.
“I’ll stay with him,” said Paul.
“I think Holly should stay with me,” said Kevin. “You know. In case I need some kind of magic CPR or something.”
She glared at him. “You’ll be fine.”
“I need Holly,” said Eric. He glanced up at the rearview in time to see her shoot him a grateful look.
“Where are we heading, anyway?” asked Paul.
�
��Back to the high school. I think that’s the next target.”
“No shit?”
Eric had already spent the first half of the day there. And this was where he and Karen came to read Hector’s third letter. He couldn’t decide if it was strange or fitting that the high school might hold some of the answers to this mystery.
“You two stay in the car. Keep a lookout. Let me know if you see that steampunk jerk.”
“Will do,” said Kevin. “Eyes peeled. Leave it to me.”
Eric nodded. “Right. Blind. Forgot about that for a second there. Sorry.”
“I’ll keep a lookout,” promised Paul.
“Just stay in the car,” repeated Eric, handing him the keys. “If someone does show up, hopefully they won’t see you.”
“Don’t worry about us. You two be careful. Call me if you need me.”
Eric and Holly stepped out into the warm sunshine and walked across the parking lot.
“You okay?” asked Eric.
“I’m fine,” she snapped, managing to sound not very fine at all.
He looked over at her, recalling her unusual mood swings at the bungalow. Something wasn’t right. She was different today. He wished he knew what was bothering her. But he didn’t quite dare to ask her directly.
They stepped through the main doors. It was eerily quiet inside.
“Is anyone here?” asked Holly.
“Pretty much everyone should be gone for the weekend.”
“It’s kind of creepy.”
He nodded. It always was when the students weren’t here. Just a little. High schools weren’t made to be empty. They were designed to be filled to the brim with teens and all their naïve drama. It always felt a little wrong when the rooms were all empty like this.
