Southern Karma

by Amy Boyles

  He shot me a pointed look.

  “Okay. Scratch that. Things can always get worse. But that’s not going to happen here,” I said quickly. “Not tonight. Tonight you’re going to become the werewolf, and in the morning we’ll get everything fixed. Easy as pouring honey over biscuits.”

  “I like Golden Eagle syrup, myself,” he said.

  I laughed. “Tell you what—next breakfast we have together, I’ll try it. I’m sure it’s delicious.”

  “It’s the best.”

  He was smiling, but the warmth on his lips didn’t reach his eyes. I squeezed Axel’s hand. “It’ll be fine.”

  He raked his fingers through his hair. “You’re right. I’m sure it’s just the craziness of this whole thing that’s setting me on edge.” He glanced at the sky that looked exactly the same as it had yesterday and would look the same tomorrow night unless we got this whole craziness solved.

  “Get back,” he said. “The change is coming.”

  I gave him a quick hug and kiss on the cheek and then rejoined my cousins. Axel clamped the thick ring around his neck and tugged. That sucker wasn’t coming off for anything.

  We turned our backs as Axel removed his clothes. Once the popping and snapping of the change started, we faced him.

  Watching his arms and legs elongate, his face twist and his shoulders snap into much larger, fiercer constructs made me shudder. I glanced away. I couldn’t help but feel embarrassed.

  Axel had told me before that it didn’t bother him that I saw. But a voice inside my head said this was his greatest humiliation. It was a lead cloud weighing on his shoulders.

  It was a private moment, and I felt like a gawker.

  When the change finished, Axel was no more. In his place stood a snarling, spitting werewolf.

  A creature that eyed the three of us like dinner.

  “Axel must’ve been hungry when he shifted,” Cordelia said. “He wasn’t this ticked off last time we watched him.”

  Amelia stretched her legs out on the grass. “Yeah, he settled down after a few minutes. Maybe he’ll do the same tonight.”

  I hitched a shoulder. “Maybe.”

  But as I watched, the wolf swatted and growled, snapped and snarled. It looked like Axel had a world of fight in him and he wasn’t about to stop until he tired.

  That was the moment I saw it.

  “His chain,” I said.

  Amelia perked up. “What?”

  I pointed. “Look.”

  “Holy shrimp and grits,” Cordelia said. “This is bad.”

  One of the finger-thick links in the middle of the chain was stretching, yawning open with every tug that Axel gave. Steel groaned as the werewolf fought for freedom.

  “We have to fix it,” I said.

  “Can we?” Amelia said. “I don’t know what it’s made of.”

  “We have to try,” I snapped. I immediately regretted my tone. “Sorry.”

  Amelia stiffened. “It’s okay. We’re all on edge.”

  “Help me mend it.” I raised a hand and focused on forcing the link together. Whatever power I possessed with my head witchiness needed to work some serious awesomesauce right now.

  The link stretched farther. I pushed myself, pinpointing all my attention on cinching the chain. It started to move, started to close.

  Cordelia and Amelia raised their hands. Magic spewed from their palms, splashing over the metal.

  You would have thought that the convergence of magic would’ve helped. You would’ve thought all that extra power could’ve sewn the link together faster, stronger and better. But it didn’t.

  The extra power somehow backfired. It sent a shock wave of magic bouncing toward us. I didn’t see it until it was too late.

  “Watch out,” Cordelia yelled.

  A tidal wave of power exploded in my face, throwing me back against the hedges. It knocked the air from my lungs. Everything was blurry. I blinked, trying to make sense of what I was seeing. There were two chains, two wolves.

  Wait. Not two wolves. There was only supposed to be one.

  Correction. There was one wolf attached to one broken chain.

  It was broken. Completely shattered in the center. None of us had Betty’s shotgun.

  We were farther up crap creek without a paddle than I ever expected us to be.

  The werewolf’s lips peeled back into a terrifying snarl. I glanced at my cousins. They were groggy but moving their heads back and forth as if they would wake up at any moment.

  I needed to get Axel away from them. I couldn’t focus on him and my cousins at the same time. I couldn’t do that and keep all of us alive.

  The beast growled as it slowly padded toward me. I knew what it was thinking—I was food, easy food. I wasn’t going to argue.

  I got my legs up from under me and rose. I steadied my gaze on him but didn’t make eye contact so as not to appear aggressive. I extended my hand. There was only one option that might save my life. I had to reach Axel’s mind and touch the part that wasn’t feral.

  I inhaled a deep shot of air, pushed every other thought away and focused all my power on diving deep into the werewolf’s mind. I had one shot at this. Only one. Otherwise I was dead meat.

  I exhaled. “Let’s get started.”

  FIFTEEN

  I opened my mind to the beast. Images poured in—the full moon, trees, the scent of blood, the iron tang of blood on his tongue. They flooded my mind like a wave of fragmented pictures and disjointed thoughts.

  My knees jellied. I fisted my hands and pushed them into my thighs. I needed the werewolf to trust me. To make the connection. Otherwise I was toast.

  “Axel.”

  The wolf cocked his head.

  I kept my voice as steady as my shaking nerves would allow. “Axel. I know you’re in there. I know you can hear me. Talk to me. Let me in.”

  More images rushed to me. This time they belonged to Axel. An image of me. It wasn’t the most flattering. My nose looked a little large. Oh, and I had a zit on my chin. Not one of those gross puss-filled ones. It was a red mound— Anyway, they were images of me.

  “There,” I said. “I know you’re in there.”

  The wolf growled. I extended my palm and snagged on his gaze.

  My breath hitched. It wasn’t the eyes of a wolf staring at me. These were Axel’s soul-filled eyes. Yes, I know they were black, but they held a spark of intelligence that was unmistakably Axel’s.

  “Talk to me,” I said.

  Thoughts like projectiles pummeled me.

  Must stay alert. Don’t fall back. Love her. Can’t hurt her.

  My stomach quivered. Was he talking about me? No way. He couldn’t be. He couldn’t mean me.

  The next wave delivered a flood of emotion. Not words. Feelings that nearly swept me off my feet and made to settle me on the hedges.

  The emotions were strangling in their strength. I felt fear, disgust, frustration, betrayal. These weren’t directed at any one person; they were all coming from Axel. They were his—how he felt about himself.

  “Oh, my dear,” I said, “please don’t beat yourself up. You can’t help what you are.”

  The wolf gazed at me. Stared at me with those firelit eyes.

  As the weight of Axel’s guilt crashed down on me, a tiny spark of feeling tore through. It was like a ball of light in darkness. I focused my attention on it, but it was too intense to put all my focus on.

  Love.

  It was love. It was a deep, guttural swell of love that originated in the very center of his heart and exploded out. It had one singular focus.

  Me.

  Air filled my lungs in one shaky breath. All my fears, all my doubts were completely unfounded. Axel loved me.

  Loved me. With all his being. It was so obvious. The emotion was a ray, a beam that projected from him. It was blinding.

  Axel knew it. He felt it.

  Here I was, so afraid that he would steal my heart and run that the only way I believed it was by se
eing it. If I wasn’t standing in the middle of his mind, I wouldn’t have thought it possible—even if someone had slapped me in the face with the pork chop of truth.

  But it was true. It was so true. What was even more awesome was that his love filled me with love. There was no doubt in my mind how I felt about Axel. I loved him.

  Loved him.

  Yes. I did. I wanted to shout it from the rooftops, climb the highest mountain and sing a song about it.

  Wait. Didn’t people lose toes when they climbed mountains? Okay, I wanted all my digits intact. But I still felt the geyser of emotion flowing through every single vein, all the way down to my fingers.

  A growl snapped me back to the present.

  “Um, Pepper, what are you doing?”

  Amelia. They were waking up.

  “Shh. I’m talking to Axel.”

  “Better do it fast because he looks like he wants to eat you.”

  The werewolf was licking his lips. I guess I’d gotten so lost in his mind I’d forgotten to glue our connection.

  “Axel, listen to me. I know you’re in there. I know you can hear me.”

  The werewolf stopped growling.

  “You can control it. You aren’t the beast. You’re a man. Not an animal.”

  The creature stilled. I took a tentative step toward him, arm outstretched. “You’re in there. I know you are. I’ve seen you. I’ve touched you. You’re there. All you have to do is come forward.”

  I know you can do it, I said in his mind. I know you can. I’m here.

  Pepper?

  I shivered. To hear his voice made my chest swell with hope.

  I’m here, I said.

  Pepper…I want to…break through.

  You can. You’re just on the tip of it. The beast doesn’t control you, Axel. You control it. You are it. It is a part of you.

  I felt a tug as if Axel was trying to gain control. He warred within himself. This was his struggle. Who was he? Man or beast? The man won nearly every night of the year, but once a month Axel belonged to the creature.

  But he didn’t have to. Things didn’t have to be this way. I knew that. I felt it. If only he could simply take control.

  I can’t, Axel said. The beast is too strong.

  “No, it’s not,” I shouted, striding forward. “You can do it, Axel. I know you can.”

  The werewolf snarled. I stopped, lowered my voice. “You can do this.”

  For a moment Axel was silent. Then his voice rang loud and clear inside my head.

  Pepper?

  Hope bubbled in me. Yes?

  I can’t. I can’t control it. You have to…

  Yes?

  You have to…run.

  Frustration built in me. No. You can do it.

  No, I can’t. Run. Now. Run!

  The scream shattered our connection. I was thrown from Axel’s mind and slammed back into my own body. I rocked backward.

  “Holy crap,” Cordelia said.

  The werewolf growled and snapped. It padded toward us. Saliva dripped from its massive jaws.

  “Um, Pepper?” Amelia said. “What’re we supposed to do?”

  I bit my lip. “The only thing we can. Witches, get ready to spray some magic. We have to hit him enough that he runs away.”

  “Runs away?” Amelia said, her voice shaking.

  I faced off against the beast. Axel was gone, lost to the creature. I pushed aside the tenderness I was tempted to feel. As long as I didn’t hurt him, he would be fine. All we had to do was scare him away. Far, far away from town to keep everyone safe.

  “Let him have it,” I shouted.

  Cordelia and Amelia blasted the werewolf with magic while I thought about pushing him away, keeping him back.

  Tendrils of power splashed his face. The wolf howled, but instead of retreating, the attack seemed to fuel him. He fought and strained, trying to reach us.

  “It’s not working,” Amelia said.

  “More,” I shouted. “It won’t hurt him!”

  My cousins amped up their attack. I wanted him gone. I pushed with my mind. Usually all I had to do was think something back and it happened. Yet my power didn’t have any effect on him. At least not in that way.

  An image of a stone werewolf flashed in my head, and I stopped, afraid. The gorgon power still flowed through my veins. I didn’t need to hurt him. I had to keep him safe.

  My brain sputtered, and I stopped. Amelia’s and Cordelia’s powers faltered as well.

  “We’re draining,” Cordelia said. “We can’t keep going.”

  I wanted to shout at them to try harder, but it was no use. I could see their magic faltering, petering out. They were depleted, and nothing on earth could give them more magic except rest.

  We fell back. The werewolf hunched down, readying to lunge at us. I held my breath. This was it. The thing Axel most feared in life. The werewolf was going to attack and kill one of us.

  I had to try one more time.

  I gritted my teeth and thought Go!

  The werewolf snapped and swiped at me. The creature roared. In the blink of an eye it jumped straight for us.

  A line of fire shot out of nowhere, igniting a trail in front of the werewolf. The creature plunged into it and howled, scurrying away from the flames as quickly as possible.

  What the…?

  My gaze swept to the sky. Cutting through the trees was Hugo, and on top of him rode Paige. Betty floated behind them.

  Betty and Paige?

  My jaw dropped.

  “After him,” Betty yelled.

  Hugo roared so loud the trees shook. I felt the echo in my chest. It jolted my body, licking all the way to the nerve endings in my fingers.

  Axel in werewolf form gazed up at the sky, realized he was being chased by a dragon and took off in the opposite direction.

  “Charge,” Paige yelled.

  Hugo sailed through the night sky. He looked majestic as he shot lines of flames at Axel.

  Well, I mean, my dragon wasn’t going to hurt my boyfriend.

  I didn’t think.

  No, Betty wouldn’t let him do that. No way. No how.

  I turned to my cousins. “Come on. We’ve got to warn Garrick about Axel.”

  Cordelia grabbed my hand. “No. Amelia and I will go. You stay with Betty and Paige. In case something happens.”

  I nodded solemnly. I knew what she meant. In case the werewolf got them or they got the werewolf, another person needed to bear witness.

  I gave my cousins quick hugs. “I’ll call or text as soon as things are safe.”

  “Good luck, sweet tea witch,” Amelia said.

  A smile coiled on my lips. “Y’all too.”

  I hopped on my skillet and lifted into the sky. The skillet was wobbly as if I’d used too much of my power and I was running on fumes. I gritted my teeth and tightened my grasp. There was no time for low magic. I needed to catch my grandmother, my dragon and my feral boyfriend.

  I zipped over the trees. Darkness consumed the forest, but the streams of fire Hugo shot every few seconds made it easy to find them.

  A row of hedges sat in the middle of the forest in a spot I didn’t recognize. I shook my head but rode on. I hadn’t spent enough time in the woods to know the markers by rote. My geography was off. I’m sure that’s all it was.

  I hunkered down and pushed the skillet on. The tops of trees lashed at my feet as I accelerated. My hair whipped my face. I spat out a strand and leaned down.

  Within seconds I’d caught them.

  The werewolf raced at breakneck speed through the pines and poplars.

  “Keep on him, Hugo,” Betty shouted. “Keep pushing him.”

  I glanced over. “Push him away from town!”

  Betty shot me a look that said, I got this. “’Bout time you showed up.”

  I glared at her. “How’d you know to come?”

  Hugo shot another line of fire. Betty zipped up to Paige. “She said you were in danger.”

  I gl
anced at the quiet girl. “Thank you!”

  Paige gave a quick nod and then tightened her grip on Hugo. Betty pointed at Axel. “Hit him again, Hugo!”

  “Don’t hurt him,” I yelled.

  “He won’t. Paige instructed Hugo not to hurt the wolf. We’re just trying to get him far enough out of town that he doesn’t come back until he’s human.”

  The werewolf darted into a meadow. He galloped across the silvery grass at a dizzying speed.

  “What happened?” Betty called.

  “The chain broke.”

  “Broke?” she said, her face full of concern.

  “Yes. Broke. We tried to fix it, but it didn’t work!”

  “Of course not,” she yelled. “You can’t fix that kind of chain with magic.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Now you tell me. There! He’s trying to turn around!”

  “Hit the grass, Hugo! Make an arch with the flames.”

  Paige touched Hugo’s haunch, and he did as Betty said.

  Axel skirted to a stop in front of the arching flames. He adjusted his course and headed toward the mountain. A mountain? Outside Magnolia Cove? I have to admit I hadn’t done much exploring, but I didn’t remember a mountain.

  “What’s that mountain?”

  Betty gestured with her hand. “It’s called Hillbilly Hill. It’s sort of an extension of the Cobweb Forest, except that’s where other creatures live.”

  “Other creatures? Other than witches?”

  “Yes—giants. They live there. Hardly ever come out. That’s their place.”

  I frowned. “They don’t come into town.”

  “That’s because they’re giants and they scare people. Not that they can help it,” she said.

  “How do they feel about witches?” I said.

  “They’re not too fond us,” she said. “That’s why they live on the mountain. We can push Axel up a ways, but the rest is up to him.”

  Panic rushed through me. “What about the giants? We’re sending a werewolf to them.”

  She shook her head. “They’re not his food. Too big. Don’t worry, those giants can handle themselves.”

  “Sure,” I said, not believing her.

  We reached a thick line of trees. Betty pointed. “Hugo, give it all you’ve got!”

  A huge stream of fire exploded from Hugo’s mouth. Orange and red flooded the trees as blistering heat warmed my face. I slowed the skillet and watched as the werewolf plunged into darkness. The trees swallowed him like a giant’s open jaws.