by Sara Clancy
The question was clearly for Percival. With a heavy sigh, he turned in his seat, softening his tone but keeping a certain degree of sass.
“Your guess would be as good as mine, Ha-Yun.”
Not as easily appeased as her husband, she narrowed her eyes, “You’re the one who does this every year.”
“As stated before, this is new.”
“Maybe we should just leave,” Ethan suggested. “Neither you nor Ozzie has a box.”
“That’s not the point. Now that Ozzie’s been formally introduced to the family, it’s expected that he make an appearance.”
“Do you see this?” Ethan declared, slamming his hand against the window. “What do they expect him to do?”
Percival looked between both of his old friends like they were morons. “It’s more about moral support.”
“I promised them I’d be there,” Ozzie stammered. “They were here for me when it was my turn. I can’t just ghost them now.”
Ha-Yun wasn’t having any of it. “I don’t like this idea of yours. This is obviously a bad omen.”
“Mom, it was never going to be easy.”
“You’re a child. You shouldn’t be involved in this.”
After the events of their failed Spring attack, Ozzie knew better than to keep his parents in the dark or argue the finer points. He wasn’t stupid enough to think they would be okay with him cave diving in the hopes of murdering an undead witch if they thought too much about it. The trick was to distract them by mentioning the others they knew.
“I promised Mina I would help. They’re counting on me.”
Ha-Yun had taken a liking to Mina in particular, admiring her unrelenting drive, even if it did border on unhealthy obsession a lot of the time. As an only child, his parents had never had anyone to compare him to. Now that they knew Mina, they had been making up for lost time. Grades, manners, general room tidiness. All the sibling rivalry stuff that would have made parenting a little easier on them. He might have been annoyed if it didn’t mortify Mina. Seeing her cringe took the edge off.
“I’m sure she has good intentions,” Ha-Yun said. “But you’re both too young to see the danger.”
“You’re not invincible,” Ethan added.
Before Percival could cut in, Ozzie went for Plan B.
“Cadwyn’s been involved in every step of the planning. He doesn’t expect that we’ll run into trouble, but he’s prepared for it.”
Whenever mentioning Mina doesn’t work, mention Cadwyn. The arch of Percival’s eyebrow made it clear that he knew what Ozzie was up to. Mercifully, he kept silent. Out of his little group of four, Cadwyn was the only one his parents believed to be a legitimate ‘adult.’ His age helped the perception along, of course, but it was mostly his personality. The psych nurse’s thoughtful composure, wit, and warm smile had utterly charmed them in a few minutes flat.
“I’m sure he has,” Ethan said, his voice a little less solid.
While Ethan shot some meaningful looks to his wife, Ozzie sought out Percival’s gaze. Don’t mention Basheba! He mentally screamed the words and was a little surprised when Percival smirked. At least he gets it, Ozzie thought. Experience had taught him that his parents more or less thought of her as they would a savage guard dog. Not exactly something they want in the house until a bigger bad guy is banging at the door.
A car horn blared, making them all jump. Ozzie had been so distracted that he hadn’t even noticed the hatchback pulling up alongside their car. Just enough copper paint peaked out from under the smeared ash for Ozzie to recognize the vehicle as Basheba’s.
Percival used the master switch to roll down Ethan’s window, allowing the flecks of ash inside along with Basheba’s cheerful voice.
“Hey, I thought that was you,” she said. “When did you guys get in?”
“What’s happened?” Percival demanded in a crisp, professional tone.
Resting her elbow on the window frame, she sighed wistfully. “A lot, actually. It’s been one hell of a year.”
“Why don’t we stick to the highlights then?” Percival said, his voice a little tenser than it had been. “Perhaps we could start with why everything is covered in ash?”
She shrugged. “Katrina’s chucking a tantrum.”
Cadwyn swiftly leaned over from the front passenger seat to add, “No one’s been physically injured, and the radius of real damage seems to be confined to the barbeque area.”
“Thank goodness,” Percival said.
“Your family is going to be very happy to see you.” Cadwyn smiled warmly before shifting his attention. “Mr. and Mrs. Davis, lovely to see you again.”
Ozzie watched with slight fascination as that token bit of politeness worked to ease the tension within his car. I’ve got to learn how to do that.
“Where is everyone now?” Percival asked.
“Most are heading to that roadside diner about twenty minutes out of town. The one with the big clown on the sign.”
“Chuckles,” Basheba cut in, side-eyeing Cadwyn with disapproval. “How do you not know that?”
“It’s clearly a fault of my upbringing,” Cadwyn said.
“Clearly,” she mouthed, exaggerating the motion so much that even the people in the other car understood it.
A flash of annoyance crossed her face as Cadwyn gently pushed her back into the seat, making room for himself to lean further across and continue the conversation.
“Take the southbound highway out of town. It’s the second exit. You can’t miss it.”
“You’re not heading over there?” Percival said.
“Time is of the essence,” Cadwyn said with an apologetic wince. “I’m guessing that Ozzie has got you all up to date on our plans?”
Ozzie sunk into his seat as his godfather replied. “He was light on a few of the details. But I have the basics.”
“Tours run out of the cave entrance we need,” Cadwyn continued. “We want to make sure that we get in before they close it due to…” He paused as he looked for the right word.
“Weather?” Basheba offered.
“We’ll go with that.”
Seizing the opportunity to get away with minimal arguments, Ozzie threw himself into motion. He quickly kissed his mother’s cheek, gave his dad and Percival simultaneous one-armed hugs, and leaped out of the car. It only took him a few seconds to gather his bags out of the sedan’s trunk and toss them into the back of Basheba’s car. It was still time enough for the ash to gather on his skin and invade his mouth. Trying to work the taste off of his tongue, he climbed onto the makeshift bed that took up two-thirds of the vehicle and almost ended up headbutting a stranger.
“Oh,” Ozzie sputtered. “Um, hi. You’re new.”
“This is my brother, Jeremiah.” Mina finished the introductions while trying to hold Buck.
Regardless, the massive dog steadily worked his way across the car to give Ozzie a slobbery welcome. It considerably slowed Ozzie down and destroyed his clean getaway. All present parental units slipped past him before he was able to work the trunk door down. They lined the left wall, each looking equally awkward and determined. Percival’s dark brows knotted together.
“Why am I sitting on a mattress?” Percival asked.
“I’m curious about that, too,” Basheba noted, casting a glance over to Cadwyn.
He tipped his head to the side and heaved a sigh. “Does it matter if they come along?”
If Ozzie hadn’t been there when Cadwyn had been forced to cut Basheba’s eye out, he would have thought the fine lines were just some early wrinkles. Now, as her eyebrows rose to her hairline and the skin pulled taut, they looked like silver Sharpie marks.
“Please drive,” Cadwyn said.
“I’ve got four hitchhikers in my car,” Basheba spoke like Cadwyn was the only one that could hear her. Mindlessly, she swept a hand out to indicate the back. “It’s like my grandpa always said. Any more than two hitchhikers per trip can only end in shallow graves.”
“Excuse me?�
�� Ha-Yun cut in only to be ignored.
Cadwyn barely hid his amusement as he playfully glared at the small blonde. “Stop teasing the tourists.”
“You don’t let me have any fun,” Basheba said. She shifted into a more comfortable position and stomped on the gas.
Buck was the only one prepared for the sudden jerk, so he was spared the painful slam against metal and flesh.
“And for the record,” Basheba noted to Cadwyn. “That was one of Grandpa’s favorite sayings.”
“Oh, of course. Just think of all the situations you could use that saying for,” Cadwyn replied.
Basheba took the snide comment as agreement and preened. “He was a very wise man.”
Mina opened her mouth, clearly intent on adding her perspective to the argument. Ozzie reached out to stop her but he needn’t have bothered. The brunette snapped her mouth closed and turned her efforts to comforting her brother, leaving Cadwyn to handle the continued negations. Catching her gaze, Ozzie gave her a gentle smile. He was pretty sure that it physically hurt her to keep her silence.
“So, how is this working? I’m dropping them off at Chuckles then looping back around?” Basheba asked, blindly reaching over her shoulder.
Buck closed the distance to nuzzle her fingertips.
Cadwyn kept his tone light, “Or, we can take them to the cave.” He continued while she was groaning. “If we take them with us, you’ll have someone to drive your car back.”
Disgust distorted her face as she gasped in horror. “Let someone else drive my car?”
“Were you planning to leave it in the Witch Woods with the cultists—watch the road—or the tourist parking lot where it’ll get towed? I’m pretty sure we just ran a red light.”
Basheba ignored the jabs against her driving skills. “For the record, I was planning to park on a back road. It’ll be safe there.”
“You’re right. Far better than leaving it in the care of a multimillionaire who would feel compelled to compensate you for any damages that might happen.”
Basheba narrowed her eyes on him, “I know you’re trying to manipulate me.”
“Does that stop it from working?” Cadwyn asked with an unrepentant smile.
After a moment, she huffed, muttered a ‘fine’ and rose her voice for the others to hear. “If you promise not to give my car to any of my family members, I’ll bring you along. Only to the mouth of the cave. We part ways in the parking lot.”
“Agreed,” Ethan answered hurriedly.
The falling ash thickened as they made their way through the town. Ozzie barely caught a glimpse of the graveyard as it passed his window. It was little more than a few random shadows in a dull fog. The lack of visibility reminded him too much of being in the tank to leave breathing an easy task. Buck butted his head against Ozzie’s hand, offering the teenager a distracting task. While he scratched behind the Rottweiler’s ears, he was dimly aware of Mina explaining what had happened at the barbeque.
Good thing she’s the one telling that story, Ozzie thought as the explanation continued.
Mina had a skill at keeping to the bare facts, and the unemotional delivery eased the blow to his parents. His mother still reached out to wrap a protective arm around his shoulders as Ethan kept casting worried glances at Percival. Ozzie wasn’t sure which one of them he should try and comfort first. In his hesitation, he noticed Jeremiah again.
The guy had a way of being so quiet and still that it was easy to forget he was there. All he did was stare at the music box in his hand, watching the small, gilded clogs churn. A ticking clock. Ozzie racked his brain for something that would make Jeremiah feel even a little better. The tension shattered in the wake of Basheba’s abrupt giggle.
“I fail to see what part of this is funny,” Ha-Yun said in a frigid voice.
Cadwyn tipped his head back slightly to explain. “She believes that this is a good sign.”
“Damn straight it is,” Basheba chirped.
“The Pompeii levels of ash?” Percival asked.
“Don’t exaggerate,” Basheba scoffed. “All of this is one big sign that she’s scared.”
“What would she possibly have to be scared of?” Jeremiah’s voice cracked as he clutched the sides of the box, his nails scraping over the smooth sides.
Basheba’s tone was somehow the perfect representation of rolling her eyes, “How about the fact that she was human once?”
Jeremiah’s head shot up. “What?”
“She was human once. Not a witch. Not a ghost. Just a dumb, ol’ boring human.”
Jeremiah glanced at his sister. When she couldn’t give him the answer he was searching for, he turned to Ozzie, who could do little more than awkwardly shrug. I’ve got no idea where she’s going with that.
“She wasn’t born with her powers,” Basheba broke the silence.
Mina jolted with sudden realization. “You think that someone, well something, gave her these abilities?”
“Duh,” Basheba said. “If ‘dying while pissed off’ was the only criteria to make a vengeful, killer ghost, we’d have a lot more running around the place.”
“I suppose,” Mina said thoughtfully.
“And if there’s one thing that’s always constant in this world, it’s that the powerful don’t do the weak favors for nothing.”
Ozzie shook his head in rapid, small motions. It was enough to keep his parents from arguing the point.
“Your grand theory is that the Bell Witch made a deal with the Devil?” Jeremiah scoffed. “What a startling insight.”
“So, being annoying is like a family trait for you Cranes?” Basheba replied, taking a sharp corner and narrowly avoiding a pedestrian. She didn’t slow down.
Cadwyn braced his arm against the door. “Oh,” he said slowly.
“Oh, what? What does ‘oh’ mean?” Ethan asked.
“I think I get what you’re aiming for,” Cadwyn told Basheba before continuing. “Most of the time, when people consider deals with demons, they think of one-off transactions. Wealth in exchange for your soul, for example. Basheba’s theory is that Katrina has an ongoing debt.”
“You’re calling her by her name, too?” Jeremiah whimpered, half in pain, half in frustration.
Cadwyn shrugged. “Hang around her long enough and you’ll pick up the habit, too.”
“An ongoing debt,” Mina said thoughtfully. “The bulls. The ones the minotaurs were sacrificing at the Bell ancestral home. You’re thinking that they weren’t her tributes. They were for her… benefactor.”
“And I doubt that he’ll be happy that she stiffed him.” Basheba bit her smile and took another sharp turn. It was now almost impossible to see anything more than an inch away from the glass. How she saw the road at all, Ozzie didn’t know. “Even if I’m wrong, they were for something. If they weren’t intended for a benefactor, then they had to be for her. Why would she need that many?”
“So, she’s either ticked off a more powerful being and needs to get things right quickly, or she’s personally weakened,” Cadwyn finished the thought.
Jeremiah barked a bitter laugh and slammed a fist against the window. “Does this look ‘weaker’ to you?”
“Duh,” Basheba stared at him for a moment, clearly confused that he hadn’t come to the same conclusion. “Life lesson, Crane. You don’t need such a blatant show of force if you’re the one in control.”
“I’m sorry,” Ethan cut in, slightly stammering as he tried to steady himself in the swerving car. “I’m rather new to all of this, and I’m sure you’ll think this is a stupid question—”
“Not at all,” Cadwyn assured.
“If it helps, there’s a fairly good chance that I already think you’re an idiot,” Basheba said, her voice light and cheerful.
At Cadwyn’s urging, Ethan ignored her to ask, “What has any of this got to do with the caves?”
“Nothing,” Basheba said, taking another turn that Ozzie couldn’t see. “We just want to get our hands on her c
orpse.”
Percival shook his head as if he could physically jolt the words into making sense.
“The rumors are that she haunts the caves but there’s no debate that she’s buried in the graveyard. You’ve personally destroyed her headstone several times, Basheba.”
Taking one hand off of the wheel, Basheba loosely gestured to Mina. “You figured it out, so you take it from here.”
“Katrina was convicted and executed for witchcraft in 1817. In those times, they never would have permitted her burial in consecrated ground.”
“Yes, yes,” Percival grumbled. “We all know that. She had a pauper’s grave on the outskirts of town until about a century after her death. Did you forget the end of the story? How word spread far and wide about Black River, the nowhere little town still ignorant enough to hang women for witchcraft. The town was desperate to save face and relocated her coffin to the town graveyard.”
“Yes. Well, no, actually,” Mina said in a rush. “I’ve been scouring through the town archives—”
“Do you think you’re the first to do that?” Percival cut in. “There’s nothing in the records that contradict the story.”
“Not in the official ones, no. The undertaker was meticulous with his notes. The undertaker’s cousin’s wife’s diary, however, mentioned her relative committing a blasphemy. Now, most of her belongings were lost to time. But it was a different matter for her friend, Christina Riches, the renowned poet. Her paperwork was archived upon her death and, within them, I found some of the undertaker’s cousin’s wife’s letters along with some of Christina’s replies that hadn’t been sent for various reasons that don’t need to be explored at this moment.”
“Can you say that again?” Ethan asked.
“Maybe a bit slower,” Percival added.
Ha-Yun rolled her eyes and rattled off at a pace similar to Mina’s. “A woman from Black River wrote to her friend about the insanity happening in town. Said friend kept the letters. Mina read the letters.”
Mina’s shoulders slumped slightly. “That’s exactly what I just said. Is no one listening to me?”
“Ignore them, dear,” Ha-Yun said. “Do go on.”
Percival and Jeremiah looked about as shell-shocked as Ozzie had felt when he had first heard Mina’s theory. It seemed his mother, however, had decided to bypass shock for now and got straight into protective mode. She listened intently, hanging on Mina’s every word as the girl continued.
