Southern Karma

by Amy Boyles

  “I thought you might appreciate my full form,” she said. Wilma’s voice had deepened to one that reminded me of a television devil. Gone was the little old lady, and in her place was a full-fledged scary-as-heck gorgon.

  My head lightened.

  I had to keep it together. I had one chance at this. One chance.

  “You are quite ugly,” I said, trying to keep my gaze from her eyes.

  She cackled. “Aren’t I beautiful? We gorgons are never appreciated for our good looks. Only a mother could love us, people like to say. That’s not very nice, don’t you think? Oh well, why don’t you look at me, my dear? Look into my eyes, and everything will be wonderful. All the pain will be gone. Any unfulfilled dreams will vanish. Everything will be as it should.”

  I gritted my teeth. “I don’t have unfulfilled dreams.”

  “Oh? Well, live long enough and you will.” Wilma took a step toward me. The snakes hissed and twisted, and her skin stretched to breaking.

  I delved deep into my power. Into the gift I’d shoved way in the back of my mind. It was there, burning bright, waiting to be unleashed. I’d let my fear of it control me. But I was the master of my domain. It was power that I owned. Which meant I controlled it.

  “That tea,” I said.

  Wilma’s mouth cracked. My gaze was fluttering from her mouth up to her nose. It was unavoidable. Our eyes would meet, and apparently Wilma had the patience of a snail because I felt like my gaze had been moving to her eyes for thirty minutes.

  It hadn’t been that long, but that’s how it felt.

  “Didn’t the tea taste wonderful?” she said.

  “No, it didn’t.”

  “You drank it too slowly.”

  I let her words hang in the air. “I didn’t drink it slowly at all.”

  “Then you drank it too fast.”

  “That’s not it either. You see,” I was gazing at the bridge of her nose now, “the thing about the tea was, I didn’t drink it at all.”

  It took maybe half a beat for Wilma to gasp. That was all I needed. I needed her focus to be broken, shattered.

  That small inhalation told me it was my time.

  The gorgon power flared inside me. I felt it rush through my veins and out of me.

  I looked straight in the gorgon’s eyes. The snakes hissed and snapped. The red light in Wilma’s eyes had faded for the briefest of moments. My power surged outward like a lighthouse beacon. It hit Wilma square in the face.

  Her features froze as if a master sculptor had captured her in a moment of fright. Her mouth rounded, her eyes widened and her jaw went slack. Her fingers curled as if she wanted to strangle the air from my lungs.

  For a moment I felt myself stiffen, and I prayed that I’d caught her before her gaze was able to do anything to me. I didn’t look away. I was too scared that the change wouldn’t be completed.

  But as her grayish skin hardened and even as the snakes paled, I realized I’d done it. I’d managed to beat Wilma at her own game.

  When every last part of her was gray, including her clothing—not sure how that happened, but it was pretty much like it was in movies, my binds loosened.

  I exhaled sharply as I stared at the stone structure. A wave of nausea flooded my body. I’d used my power to hurt someone. It was not a good feeling. I needed to put my arms around someone and let them hold me.

  Wilma’s door burst open. Axel, followed by Rufus, ran inside. Axel took one look at me and then at Wilma. He pulled me to him and ran his fingers through my hair.

  Tears pricked my eyes.

  “Are you okay? Did she hurt you?”

  “No. I hurt her. Barely. She was the gorgon.”

  “So I see,” Axel said. He released me and held me where he could get a good look at me. He kissed my tears away. “Can you do this?”

  I swallowed the egg in the back of my throat and nodded. I released a shaky breath and told myself that I needed to be strong. There was one more thing to do. It would take all my focus. I had to do it for Magnolia Cove.

  “I’m ready,” I said. “Let’s do this.”

  TWENTY-SIX

  We stepped outside. The red streak was growing. The wind had picked up. It screamed in my ears. We shouted to be heard.

  “It’s unstable,” Axel said. “We have to do this now. Here. There’s no other choice.”

  Rufus’s face darkened. “Do you have everything?”

  “I have the cauldron,” I said.

  “I’ve got the rest.” Axel pointed to the park. “Let’s set up there. Hurry.”

  The three of us ran across the spider-filled road. Ghosts streamed past. It was like everything was hitting a climax. Thank goodness the giants hadn’t arrived.

  The earth rumbled beneath my feet. “What’s that?”

  Axel nodded toward the hills. “Giants.”

  The trees bent and swayed as if they were being parted by large hands. Fear clawed up my throat.

  “They thought I was lying,” I said. “We have to hurry.”

  We reached a concrete chess table. Axel settled the cauldron on top. “Everyone join hands. We don’t have much time.”

  “Let’s pray this works,” Rufus said.

  I cocked a brow. “You pray?”

  “I am human,” he said stiffly.

  Axel dropped the time watch into the cauldron. We joined hands. Power swirled up around the mouth of the bowl. It flitted up to the sky, creating a vortex of power.

  I opened my mind, melding with Axel and Rufus. Power coursed through my cells. My nerve endings were on fire. Every inch of me was fueled with magic. In that moment I felt like I could do anything.

  The rumbling grew louder. Something snapped to my left. I glanced over to see King Billy Bob, a club on his shoulder, marching across the meadow. He had at least twenty giants with him.

  “Lookie there, Roy! Look at them men on stilts!”

  You guessed it—to my right, striding toward us with an unlimited supply of energy, were Roy and Douglas. They were heading straight for the giants.

  Billy Bob spied me. “My sister is still stone! You lied!”

  “We have to hurry,” I said.

  I refocused my energy. Rufus and Axel had the time watch already snapped together. All I had to do was fuse the emerald. I concentrated on the green stone, pushing it to the watch.

  It resisted. I pushed harder. I could do it. I felt in my body that I could make it happen.

  “Destroy the town,” Billy Bob shouted.

  “You think we could climb up them stilts,” Douglas said. “See if we can do that, too?”

  Oh dear Lord. I pushed all of it away, forced all of it to the back of my mind. The emerald was almost there. It was almost to the watch. All it needed was one more shove.

  An explosion cracked on my left. Billy Bob had smashed a line of stores.

  I inhaled sharply, refocused on the stone.

  “I love you,” Axel said to me.

  My gaze darted to him. To have seen it in his mind was one thing. To hear the words on his lips were another entirely. The emotion that filled his eyes wrenched my heart.

  A feeble smile lit my face. “I love you.”

  Intense focus filled his blue eyes. “You can do this.”

  “Let’s try on those stilts, Roy,” Douglas called.

  They would die. The regular people would get killed by Billy Bob and his band of hillbilly giants. I couldn’t let that happen. Absolutely not.

  I turned back to the emerald. The power of the unicorn-mane-infused cauldron burned bright. Magic thundered in my chest. I pinpointed my gaze on the emerald and pushed.

  A sharp click filled my ears.

  The emerald snapped into place.

  The time watch started spinning. It lifted up from the bowl and hovered in the air. A whirlwind of power kicked up. I lurched back.

  Axel’s hand gripped me tightly. “Hang on!”

  The vortex enveloped us. Wind lashed at me. I lurched right and left, whipped b
y the twister.

  The time watch levitated higher. The tornado strengthened. I dug my feet into the ground and leaned into the wind. We were almost there. I felt that if I broke my hold, I’d be flown either into the rising tornado or thrown clear across the sky into next week.

  “I don’t know how much longer I can hold on,” I screamed.

  “You can do it,” Axel yelled. “Just a few more seconds.”

  How he knew that, I had no idea, but I gritted my teeth. The wind lashed and whipped. The time watch spun and twirled at a dizzying rate.

  The light around us began to change. Everything turned a bright yellow. It was so bright it was like being blinded by lasers. I closed my eyes. The wind sucked me forward. I was falling, tumbling toward it. I’d be engulfed by the time watch.

  I pulled back as hard as I could, but it was stronger. The powerful vortex was like a pit of gravity. I couldn’t take it any longer. I couldn’t hold on.

  I was yanked from Axel, from Rufus. I heard Axel scream, and I fell.

  Everything stopped. Everything. The wind vanished. The sounds of Billy Bob and his men disappeared. I blinked my eyes open.

  I was standing in the middle of Bubbling Cauldron. My clothes felt heavy. I glanced down. I was wearing the green dress I’d worn Halloween night. I felt my teeth. They were bucked, just like Betty had spelled me.

  All the spiders were gone. The streets were full of townies and folks who’d come from the nonmagical world. The ghosts were gone, too. The haunted house had a line streaming from it. People were paying to go inside.

  A voice came from behind me. “You ready to get this over with?”

  I turned. Axel dressed as Tarzan stood in front of me, a smirk on his face.

  “What?” I said. “What’s going on?”

  “We’ve landed back to just before Mythica showed up.”

  I raked my fingers through my hair. “Does she know? Does she know what happens?”

  Axel’s gaze raked over the crowd. “I hope not.”

  My breath hitched. I saw Rufus in the shadows. I felt the time watch in my pocket. I gritted my teeth. “Let’s get it right this time.”

  TWENTY-SEVEN

  Axel, Rufus and I stood in front of Mythica. The carriage was behind her, and Paige was out, watching with those eyes that sparked of intelligence.

  Mythica extended a gloved hand. “So. Have you brought it?”

  I knew there would be no point in lying. Paige would reveal the truth, and we’d be exactly where we were before. But before any of us had a chance to say anything, Roy, the other half of Douglas, walked up.

  “Whew-wee. Look at that there carriage.” My gaze darted to him. He was directly behind Mythica. “Look at that!” In one quick movement he yanked a handkerchief from his pocket and slapped it over Mythica’s eyes.

  In a deep voice he said, “Mythica the Gorgon, you are under arrest for attempting to steal a priceless artifact.”

  “What?” she yelled. “What, no! You can’t arrest me.”

  Behind me I heard Douglas’s voice. “Wilma Chesterton, you are under arrest for attempted murder.”

  “What are you talking about?” Wilma fumed. “I’m here as a citizen enjoying Halloween.”

  “You can explain it to the judge,” Douglas said. He blindfolded and cuffed her.

  My jaw dropped. I glanced at Axel. He shrugged. “I knew there was something just a little too redneck about them. I did some digging and figured out who they really were—Witch Special Agents under the National Witch Council. They were following Mythica, knew she was up to something, and when I filled them in, they were more than happy to help.”

  I threw my arms around him. “My hero. You just saved all of us.”

  Axel’s lips brushed mine. “Not without you.”

  I pressed my head to his shoulder. “I love you.”

  He stiffened. His eyes clouded. I immediately regretted saying it, but he’d only told me the same thing a few minutes ago. Surely nothing had changed.

  Surely not.

  He lowered me to the ground. Rufus cleared his throat. “This is great and everything, but what about my curse?”

  Roy walked over, dragging Mythica behind him. “I’m Special Agent Grant. We’ve got something that can help with that. It’s sort of a gorgon antivenom.”

  He handed a vial to Rufus. “Drink that and you’ll be back to normal. My branch has been investigating gorgons for a long time. It’s our specialty. Thanks for the help, Reign. We knew that Mythica had some shady dealings, including child stealing, but we hadn’t been able to catch her in the act.”

  Axel shook hands with Agent Grant. “Happy to help.”

  Several dark unmarked vehicles rolled up. Douglas and Roy stowed their criminals inside. My gaze dragged across the darkness until it landed on Paige.

  Paige.

  I squeezed Axel’s arm. “I think I know who her grandmother is.”

  I followed Axel over to the young girl. “Your name’s Paige, right?”

  She studied Axel. Her gaze then darted to me. “I remember,” she said quietly. “It’s like I’m looking through a fog, but I know you.”

  I bent over and smiled. “Paige, would you like meet your grandmother?”

  Florence cried when they met. She pulled Paige to her.

  “You may want a DNA test to prove it,” I said, “but Paige was stolen by a gorgon. Her mother died after she was born.”

  “She looks exactly like my daughter,” Florence said. The older woman bent down and smiled at Paige. “Would you like to come live with me for a while, my dear? See how the two of us might get along?”

  I didn’t know Florence, not really. No one had an unkind word for her, but that wouldn’t have mattered. What did matter was how Paige responded to the woman I thought might be her grandmother.

  Paige placed her palm on Florence’s cheek. She closed her eyes, and when she opened them, a wide smile graced her face. “Nana,” she said.

  Florence laughed. “That’s what I wanted to be called. Nana. How did you know?”

  I smile flitted on my face. “You’d be surprised what she knows. Paige is smart.”

  The old woman hugged the girl, and I melted into Axel’s chest. He wrapped an arm over my shoulder.

  “You did great, Pepper.”

  I tipped my head back and grinned. “Thank you. All the pieces fit together. I hope they find happiness with each other.”

  Axel led me away. They were still hugging when he said, “For some reason I think they will.”

  A black sports car zipped downtown and came to rest at our feet. “Who’s that?” I said.

  “I don’t know.”

  The door flew open, and Erasmus Everlasting, keeper of the Vault, stepped out. He flipped up the collar of his jacket.

  “I thought I would come back early. What did I miss?”

  I fingered the time watch that lay perfectly intact in my pocket. “You didn’t miss anything. It’s been a perfectly normal Halloween.”

  TWENTY-EIGHT

  The next morning, on November first, life was finally getting back to normal. I sat at breakfast with Betty and my cousins.

  “I always thought I was a good judge of character,” Betty said.

  I patted her arm. “Wilma was good at hiding. She’d probably been doing it for a long, long time. Don’t blame yourself.”

  Betty scowled. “I’m not, kid. I’m talking about Rufus.”

  I laughed. “Yeah, well, even though he helped us, you should still get the shields fixed.”

  Betty picked up her plate of scraps and emptied it into the cauldron, much to Hugo’s disappointment.

  “I’m getting ’em fixed today,” she said. “You’re coming, too. Sylvia Spirits and Barnaby Battle think you can help.”

  “Oh, okay.”

  “Thanks for returning the time watch to me,” Amelia said.

  I smiled. “No worries. You got it back in the Vault?”

  She snapped her fingers. “
First thing I did.”

  Cordelia popped a grape into her mouth. “First thing you did after you went over it to make sure it was the real thing.”

  Amelia gasped. “Did not.”

  “Did too.”

  I waved them away. “It’s fine. I completely understand.” And I did. After all, in another timeline the stupid thing had gotten broken.

  My cousins got up and left. I opened my mouth to say something to Betty but stopped.

  Her dark eyes bored into me. “Spit it out, kid.”

  “It’s just…Rufus told me about a little girl, Georgia.”

  Betty inhaled sharply. “I’ve often wondered that if the town hadn’t reacted the way they did, would Rufus have turned out the same?” She shook her head. “He comes by it honest, but would he have followed in the footsteps of his mother? Or would he have carved a different path for himself?”

  “It’s so sad.”

  Betty fisted her hand. “It was unfair and stupid. The prejudice of people. I made sure the town changed after that.” She pointed a finger at me. “But that man has chosen his path since then. Plenty of people tried to help him, but he’s been kept out of Magnolia Cove for good reason. He’s done wicked things. Yes, he helped us yesterday, but in my opinion Rufus Mayes cannot be trusted.”

  I nodded. “I understand. You’re right. Of course. I just wanted to know about the little girl.”

  Betty sniffled. “One of our darkest moments here in Magnolia Cove.”

  I gave her a hug and slipped into my jacket. I slung my purse over my shoulder. “Come on, Hugo. Let’s go to the store.”

  The dragon followed me all the way to Familiar Place. I felt like I hadn’t been in the store for ages. Luckily whenever I leave, the animals go into sort of a hibernation mode. They sleep while I’m gone so they didn’t run out of food and water.

  I opened the door. Hugo followed happily behind me. The animals yawned and stretched.

  “Good to see y’all,” I said and went about cleaning their bowls and scratching their heads.

  I let a couple of the puppies out of their bin. They jumped on Hugo’s tail. The dragon playfully snapped at them.