by Keith Keffer
Bob's silence didn't mean that Morgan had to stay quiet. She narrated as she wrote, describing to Bob everything that she could remember. She had been a good student in school, always finding it easy to remember what the teacher had said. That helped her in the diner too. She seldom bothered to write down orders. Her memory was good enough that the few times there had been errors in the order, she was sure it was the customer who remembered incorrectly. She didn't know how well she would do when she made it to college, but she never worried about the academic side. The financial side was a different story.
It took her about five minutes to transcribe the spell. She then spent a couple of extra minutes double checking her work before handing the notebook to Bob. It looked huge in his hands. "That's it," she said. "That is the spell she cast."
Bob nodded as he studied the spell. Unlike the ones written in Morgan's spellbook, he could read this one. "Definitely a portal spell," he said. "It's linked to an object that is serving as an anchor. Cast this spell, and it will take you to that object."
He tapped on the bottom of the page with a bulbous finger. "And that part right there is how to create the anchor." His finger moved to the drawing of the spell circle. "Those symbols at the top of the circle are the key. They identify the anchor. Do you know what that means?"
"We can use the same spell to go anywhere we want as long as the anchor item is there."
"Exactly, and anyone who knows the anchor symbols can use this spell. This is a really elegant spell. Whoever our witch is, she isn't a novice. She knows her business."
"Come on Bob. There is no need to dance around it. We know who the witch is." There was steel in her voice as she spoke.
"Do we," asked Bob. "If your aunt was behind this, she would have had better opportunities to pull this off. Nope. This feels like more magic. My money is on some sort of illusion. Did it feel like your aunt before she called to Henry?"
Morgan considered what she saw. She was so certain it was her Aunt after Henry called her mom, but it didn't feel right. The voice didn't sound like Aunt Helen, and she didn't have age spotted hands like the witch. Morgan would have guessed that she was someone much older. It wasn't until after the spell was cast and she saw Henry that Morgan felt like the witch was her aunt.
In answer to Bob's question, Morgan shook her head. "No. When she was chanting she sounded like a chain smoking version of Minnie Mouse. Aunt Helen would need to suck the helium out of a balloon to even come close to sounding like that. Plus, the witch didn't wear nail polish. I don't ever remember Aunt Helen going out of the house without makeup on. She cast a spell, didn't she? Something to make Henry think she was his mom."
"She's an evil witch," said Bob. "That sounds like the type of thing she would do. It must have affected you too, but as more time passes, the less effective the spell will be. Your rational mind is already picking apart the flaws in her illusion."
"I am so going to kick her ass when we find her," said Morgan. "Let's see how well she casts spells when I take a baseball bat to her knees."
"Hold on there," said Bob. "You get in, get Henry, and get out. There is no going toe to toe with a witch. We have no idea what sort of power she has, but it's safe to say she knows more than we do. If you see her again, run and hide. Your best defense is not getting caught."
"She'll just do it again. We have to stop her."
"What's your priority? Rescuing Henry or stopping the witch? Stay focused."
Morgan bit back her first response and took a deep breath. "You're right. Henry's safety comes first."
"That's why I'm here. Now let's go get him."
"I'm ready," said Morgan. She stood with her notebook in hand, facing the circle. Her bag of tools rested at her feet. As soon as the portal opened, she wanted to be ready to go through. Everything that she would need was within arm's reach. Except for Bob. He had wandered off and was rummaging around in the leaves under a tree.
"Come on, Bob," she said. "We need to go before it gets too dark for me to read my notes." Although, darkness wasn't going to stop her. She had a flashlight in her bag, and if for some reason that didn't work, she'd wing it from memory. Watching the witch cast it was almost as good as doing it herself. She was ready.
"Wait," said Bob, "We're not ready. There is one more thing... Ah, there we go." Bob stood up with a round rock about the size of his fist. "We have no idea where we are going, so it would be really nice to have a way back. Can you cast the anchor spell on this?"
Morgan didn't wait for him to finish. She had dug out a piece of chalk from her bag and started drawing symbols on the stone as soon as Bob handed it to her. The little demon was right, and this would sure beat having to walk home, which had pretty much been her plan up to now. She made a second copy of the symbols in her notebook, and then recited the words to turn the stone into a portal anchor.
They weren't really words, or at least they didn't sound like any words in any language that Morgan had ever heard. They were just sounds she made with pauses between them. Still, she couldn't help but think of them as words. As she strung them together, she could feel the thrum of power building inside of her.
When she finished the rock glowed with a soft blue light that made the white chalk shine like it was neon. It only lasted for a second before fading except for the symbols which still captured the glow. At least to her they glowed. To anyone else it looked like a plain, ordinary rock. There was no sign of the symbols, chalk drawn or glowing.
Bob asked, "Did it work?"
"I think so," said Morgan. "Can you see the symbols I drew on it?"
"Nope," said Bob, "They faded away during your chant. They should be invisible to anyone but you."
"Then it worked," she said with a little more confidence. She moved to an open spot in the grass behind the library and placed the stone on the ground with the glowing symbols pointing upward. She'd have no trouble finding it later, but anyone else coming through the area wouldn't see anything remarkable.
Moving back to the spell circle, she looked over at Bob. "Anything else or do you think we are ready?"
Bob smiled and pressed the screen on his cell phone, and the theme to The A-Team suddenly began to play. Morgan felt goosebumps on her arms, and she smiled too. No matter how tough the mission seemed, the team on that show always managed to pull it off. She and Bob were a team, and nothing was going to stop them from getting Henry back.
"Now we're ready," said the little demon, clicking off the music. "Let's go kick butt and take names."
"What happened to sneak in and sneak out," asked Morgan grinning at Bob's cheap impersonation of an action hero.
"Yeah," he said. "Let's stick with that. Besides, I'd need to bring a ladder to do any serious butt kicking."
Morgan shook her head and got ready to cast the spell. The tension that she'd felt since having the vision was finally gone. She was nervous and a little scared. Maybe even more than a little, but she was also confident. With Bob as her guide, and her growing powers, they'd be able to do this.
She recited the words to the portal spell, barely glancing at her notes as the strange sounds flowed out of her. As the magic built, she felt a vibration deep in her chest. It was like going to a concert and standing too close to the speakers during the guitar solo. It made Morgan feel alive, powerful. At that moment anything was possible.
A blue haze rose out of the circle and filled the air. Through it she could see densely packed trees and thick brush. A dirt trail, shrouded in shadows, cut through the forest. It was wild and untamed, nothing like the parklike setting behind the library.
Taking Bob's hand in hers, she stepped into the haze. Her foot came down in a small clearing a few feet off of the trail. It was colder here. She could see her breath and felt the chill through her sweat jacket. Bob didn't seem to be bothered by the temperature.
Morgan shivered as she turned in a circle, taking in the scene around her.
A small stream ran through the forest behind them. Its
shoreline crusted with ice. The trees were mostly pine. A few mounds of snow dotted the ground, but overall the area was clear. It must have been a few days since the last snowfall.
Wherever she was, it wasn't Whitebridge. There had been some flurries, but not enough snow to shovel. No wonder they hadn't found anything when they searched the local area.
And, there was no sign of a house or road anywhere. She was so glad that Bob suggested creating the anchor stone to get back. Thinking of the stone, she picked up a stick and moved to a secluded spot under one of the pines. She carefully drew a spell circle with the symbols for the portal spell. The runes from her anchor stone were centered at the top. Now, all she would need to do is cast the spell to get back to the library. The last thing she would want to do if she had to leave in a hurry would be to draw a circle. It didn't take long, only a few minutes, but that could be a lifetime if they were being chased, and she expected to be chased.
While she worked, Bob studied the trail. "I found something," he said. "It looks like boot tracks going that way." He pointed up the path to where the forest looked even darker. Morgan wanted to dig out her flashlight and click it on but didn't. She didn't want to give anyone advanced warning that they were coming, and she could still see in the fading light. That might not last much longer, but for now, she'd make do.
"They only go one way," said Bob. "Our witch probably uses another portal spell to get back."
"How old are they?"
"I have no idea," said Bob. "I might be Tonto to your Lone Ranger, but that doesn't mean I can read a trail beyond the obvious boot print and figuring out which way the toe points."
"What about magic?"
Bob shrugged, "There is probably a way, but nothing that I know off the top of my head. Give me a few hours, and I might be able to come up with something."
"Yeah, let's not do that," said Morgan. "Let's go. Hopefully wherever we're going isn't far. I'd like to get there while we still have some daylight left."
Bob fell into place next to Morgan and together they followed the path. "It'll be close," said Bob. "If I was using a portal spell like this, I'd want it close enough to be convenient, but far enough away that it doesn't open right in my bedroom just in case someone hijacked it.
"Like we did," added Morgan. "The other witch felt old. I doubt she wanted to walk very far." She stopped and used her chalk to put a white X on the trunk of a tree just a few inches above the ground. "I don't want to get lost, and this seems a lot better than dropping bread crumbs behind us. Hopefully it's low enough to the ground that it won't be obvious to someone not looking for it."
Bob nodded his head in approval. "Good thinking. Let me have the chalk. I can mark the trees while you keep your eyes open for any sign of a lair. Don't expect to find a little cottage with a white picket fence around it. It might be a cave or a tree house or even a circle of flowers. We don't know what type of witch we are dealing with. If she is a mortal, like you, then it'll probably be a house of some sort, but if she is something else, then anything goes."
"Something else? What do you mean something else?"
Bob marked another tree, "You know what I mean. Some sort of demon or faerie or other type of supernatural creature."
"Great," said Morgan. "Like this isn't complicated enough, you're telling me we might be running into demons."
"Or Faeries," said Bob. "Probably a human, though. Maybe."
"So, you're sure it's maybe one of them?"
"Yes, exactly. We won't know until we know."
Morgan rolled her eyes. As annoying as it was, Bob was right. They wouldn't know until they ran into the witch, and if they were lucky that wouldn't happen. She watched the trail in front of them, but that was getting harder and harder. The sun was nearly down, and everything was hidden by dark shadows.
She stopped to dig out her flashlight when she saw a flicker of light in the distance. She had her thumb on the switch, ready to turn on the flashlight, but kept it off as she moved forward, closer toward the light.
"Bob, something is out there."
They followed the trail for another minute, letting the flickering light guide them in the darkness, until they reached the edge of the pine trees. Before them was a clearing, and in the middle of the clearing set a cabin. A stone walkway lead to a gate in a white picket fence. The door to the cabin was closed, but a lamp hanging to the right of the door was lit. That was the source of the light Morgan had spotted. Crouching down, they crept forward through the grass.
"That's a weird looking house," said Morgan. It looked like wood siding, but there were circles of red and green plastered to the walls. At the corners, red and white striped poles ran from the ground to the roof which was covered in white.
"Weird," agreed Bob.
They reached the fence. It wasn't made out of wood. The material was stiff and sticky, but not hard. Bob pressed his thumb into it and left a dent in the surface. He licked his thumb and frowned, then he licked the fence.
"That's gross. What do you think you are doing?" said Morgan.
"Tasting the fence," answered Bob. "It's sugary with a hint of spearmint. I think it's made out of sticks of gum."
"You've got to be kidding." Morgan reached for the fence and broke off a piece. She was about to put it in her mouth when Bob kicked her in the shin.
"Ow!" she yelped, dropping the piece of fence. "What the hell?"
"Don't eat it. You'll want more, and then the next thing you know you'll be passed out in the grass with a belly full of sugary sweets. Except, this isn't real grass. It's that green stuff they use to line Easter baskets."
"Wait a minute. Are you telling me that this is the cottage from Hansel and Gretel?"
"Of course not. That witch is dead, and her cottage has been gone for hundreds of years. No, this is someone else's gingerbread house."
CH 11 - Sugar and Spice
"It's a Candy Crone," said Bob. "It makes perfect sense. They're exactly the sort of creatures who would try to do something like this."
"Tell me you're kidding," said Morgan. "There's no such thing as a Candy Crone."
"Well, there certainly aren't many of them left. Probably less than a dozen in the whole world, but they do exist. As long as they can get their claws on a child every five years or so, they'll live forever. At least until someone comes up and shoves them in an oven or cuts their head off with an ax. Fire and beheading are the go to method for dealing with them. Actually, that pretty much works with anything from the other side."
"That would have been nice to know when I was filling my tool bag. I'm pretty sure I didn't pack an ax or a flamethrower with me today."
"That's alright," said Bob. "She's not here. If she was, she'd already be chasing us off. Candy Crones have a connection with their house. She would have sensed it the moment you broke off a piece of that fence if she was anywhere nearby."
"Maybe she thinks it's an animal."
"Nope. The magic surrounding the house keeps animals away from it. Only people will try to eat a piece. The younger they are, the harder it is to resist. If Henry's inside, don't let go of him until you reach the trees. He's likely to go back for a taste test."
"Don't worry about that. Once we find him, I'm not letting go of him until we are safely home."
Morgan grabbed her bag and headed for the gate. Pushing it open she stepped through, pausing only to look back and wait for Bob. "Come on," she said. "Let's go get him."
Bob shook his head. "I'm sorry, but I can't. The magic that keeps animals away also keeps me from crossing the threshold. I can walk up to the fence, but I can't go through the gate. Not without the Crone's permission, and I'm not planning on sticking around to ask for that. Besides, someone needs to keep watch. She might be coming back soon."
"How could you possibly know that?"
The little demon pointed back to the fence where Morgan had broken off a piece of the gum. "She'll have sensed that. It was only a little bit, and she might ignore it, but then a
gain, she might want to make sure no one is messing around her house. I'll wait by the trail and let you know if I see her. The phone reception here isn't terrible, so it'll be easy for us to stay in touch. Just put your earpiece in, and I'll give you a call."
Morgan fished the earbud out of her pocket and turned it on. As soon as she stuck it in her ear, her phone vibrated. It was Bob. Answering it, she said, "Alright, let's get this done."
The little demon was already running back toward the tree line. She could hear his heavy breathing through the earpiece. "Be careful," he said.
"We're way past being careful," she muttered. Putting her phone back in her front pocket, she once more picked up her bag and approached the house.
It did look tasty. The red and green circles looked like M&Ms. There were candy canes along the walls and even chocolate kisses lining the path leading up to the front door. The kisses were probably ten pounds each. She stopped to get a closer look at one. It would be awesome to grab one of those for later.
"Don't eat the candy. It's enchanted." The words came through her earpiece.
Bob was apparently watching her as well as the trail. "Hurry up," he said. "We don't have all night."
"Yeah, I'm on it." Morgan got back to her feet. She wasn't sure when she had sat down or even how long she had sat there contemplating what to do with the chocolate. If Bob hadn't been there to snap her out of it, she might have become the next victim of the Candy Crone.
"Thanks," she said. "I won't let the house distract me again."
"Stay focused on finding Henry," said Bob. "Ignore the candy. You can do this."
"Don't worry about me," she said. "It'll be just like going on a diet when all my friends are eating ice cream."
