Super Freak

by Vanessa Barger

  Edmund looked at my parents. My dad shrugged at him. “We didn’t understand either, but it’s true. Caroline has many talents, but none are magical.”

  Some of the fight went out of Edmund. He stared up into the branches of the tree, looking a little like a lost boy. And then I saw it. Written all over his face as clear as day.

  “You haven’t got any magic either, do you?” I said, moving closer to him.

  His mouth drew into a tight line. “Don’t be ridiculous child.”

  I waved a hand at him. “Oh, you do right now. But you’ve borrowed it. Black magic. Not your own.”

  He backed away from me. “I’m a partial Void. My magic rested in latent abilities I had no access to. Useless abilities to see spells and how to undo minor charms. I had to use black magic. William was destroying her, even though she couldn’t see it. Even when I locked him up during the full moon it didn’t matter in the end.”

  Mr. Grouseman’s voice was still more animal than man. “I’m a shape-shifter, not a beast, Edmund. I have never hurt a human. I’m fully aware of myself when I shift.”

  “But Cynthia–” His face turned toward Ms. Widdershins, who stood at the back, still and straight. There was something about the way she watched us, like a snake waiting for the right moment, that made me uncomfortable. “You told me he poisoned her. That was why she started to get sick.”

  I wanted to pat his arm; he looked so lost.

  Ms. Widdershins took a few steps forward, her icy glare centered on me. “You just couldn’t leave well enough alone, could you, Caroline? Helped Edmund escape my charm that kept him manageable as my pet, exposed Elspeth’s location?”

  “I didn’t help him at all,” I protested.

  Edmund didn’t look back at me. “You got too comfortable, Cynthia. It wasn’t hard to save up a little magic and escape that horrible form you trapped me in.”

  Ms. Widdershins’ eyes didn’t leave my face. “If you left well enough alone, none of this would’ve happened. I’ll teach you a lesson you aren’t likely to forget!”

  Everything happened in slow motion. Her hand rose, a ball of smoke and flickering purple light flipping off her fingers. I watched it, like it was headed straight for someone else’s chest. I didn’t even really have time to panic.

  Just when I realized things were about to hurt a lot, someone shoved me sideways, and I landed hard on my side, bouncing on the roots of Elspeth’s tree.

  The ball of magic crackled through the air where I’d stood, grazing Edmund’s shoulder. He fell back, a grunt mixing with a cry of pain. I blinked, delayed fear making my whole body feel like it was full of jelly. Edmund met my eyes briefly, then looked away, his hand hovering over his shoulder, where his clothing smoked and smoldered.

  Everyone froze for a second, processing the fact that Widdershins, my teacher, tried to kill me. Then everyone moved at once. No one, though, moved faster than my parents. They both slid behind Widdershins, their faces more angry than I’d ever seen in my life. Dad’s eyes blazed with magic. It looked like he had green flames instead of irises.

  “You dared to touch my child?” His voice boomed around us.

  Mom’s face lost some of its fury though she stood beside him. I guess she realized something no one else did. Though her fingers turned to slender twigs, and her blond hair was now a solid mass of leaves and twigs, she tugged on Dad’s arms. He shook her off, though he was nice about it.

  “Think about what you’re doing,” Mom said.

  He didn’t seem to hear her. He planted his feet, and his legs turned to tree trunks. Widdershins took a couple of steps away, but he reached out and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, pulling her back. His skin was already mottled and rough, and his clothes faded into tree bark.

  “You are done now, Cynthia Widdershins.” His arms turned to limbs completely then, and based on the way the witch’s eyes widened, he squeezed. I’m pretty sure things would have really gotten ugly, but Edmund staggered to his feet and put a hand on what might have been Dad’s shoulder. It was hard to tell because his body was mostly tree at that point.

  “Believe me, I understand, but you have to release her. She has much to answer for.”

  Dad’s voice was like the creak of wood in a windstorm. “She touched my child, destroyed my family before I was born. Her punishment has been a long time waiting. Why not make her answer for it now?”

  Ms. Widdershins let out a squeak as Dad tightened his hold on her.

  Mr. Grouseman stepped up to Dad’s other side, and shook his head. “You’ll be no better than she is. Besides, we’ve all waited this long. A little longer won’t hurt anything.”

  For a few heartbeats, I wasn’t sure he listened. Then the blaze in Dad’s eyes lessened, and the texture and shape of the limbs wrapped around the witch turned to something more like flesh and bone rather than bark and wood.

  “You’re lucky,” Dad said, his voice back to normal. “I’ve never lost my temper before. Be glad they were here to save you.”

  Ms. Widdershins fell to her knees, panting, when Dad finally released her. He took two giant steps to me and swept me up in a big hug. I didn’t argue when he squeezed a little tight.

  “I’m so sorry, Caro, that we didn’t listen to you sooner.”

  “It’s okay, Dad.”

  Mom joined him, and I didn’t really mind when twigs poked my sides and face.

  Detective Crowne and Viola, who materialized from nowhere with her MIST counterpart, stood on either side of Widdershins’ crumpled figure. Viola flicked a glance at me, and it was clear she’d find us later and give her opinion of what we’d done.

  Edmund knelt on the ground next to Ms. Widdershins and lifted her face with one hand. “What really happened to Elspeth?”

  Ms. Widdershins expression softened, and I was surprised at the transformation. She looked like an old woman and very sad. But it lasted only a few moments before her face twisted into an ugly frown and she pulled away from him.

  “Elspeth. Everything was always about Elspeth,” she snarled. “She wasn’t poisoned. You dryads are a hearty bunch. I didn’t have enough poison for that. Though if I had, I might have thought about it.”

  Edmund flinched as if she struck him. “I don’t understand why you were always so jealous of her. I thought you’d gotten past that.”

  “Past it? When she kept throwing her friends at you and thwarting my every attempt to get your attention? When she finally succeeded, and you kept hanging out with Lizbeth Harper?

  “You stupid man, I was in love with you. Am in love with you. Your sister was your whole world, and then you started seeing more of Lizbeth. So I told you about William and her, and instead of falling over yourself in thanks, you were so focused you forgot about me. I put up with it as long as I could.”

  Edmund groaned. “Cynthia, you don’t understand anything.”

  She sliced her hand through the air. “Save it. I got even. You stole my heart and you trampled it. So I forced your sister to go dormant and made you stay with me, my very own pet, for the last couple centuries. Where Lizbeth Harper couldn’t have you.”

  “But why?” Mr. Grouseman asked. He sounded like someone was strangling him. “Edmund as your pet? How is that love?”

  “I couldn’t very well spell him into loving me. It wouldn’t work. He was a partial Void. Magic doesn’t work on him easily. I did the next best thing, though it took almost all I had to overcome his magic-blocking abilities. If he couldn’t love me, he would at least be with me, and be no one else’s husband.”

  “Why Elspeth?” Mr. Grouseman’s voice was soft. “She was nothing but kind to you.”

  Ms. Widdershins pulled her hands through her hair. “It was a show! She knew what she was doing. That she was keeping me apart from her brother. I showed her what it was like to hear everything and see everything and be able to do nothing.”

  “You’re an even bigger fool than I was, Cynthia,”
Edmund said. There was no kindness in him now. “I wanted my sister cared for because I intended to marry you. Lizbeth Harper was helping me design your engagement ring because she was a gifted artist when I was not.”

  The witch looked like someone told her the moon really was made of blue cheese. Her mouth hung open, and there was a sheen on her eyes. But it didn’t last long.

  “An easy thing to say now. I suppose you’d do anything to have me change her back.”

  “It would help to undo at least some of the pain you’ve caused.” Edmund’s voice was soft.

  Widdershins’ sneer indicated how little she cared about that.

  The tree behind me shook, leaves drifting down around us. Widdershins looked up, but her expression didn’t soften. “Tired of being silent and still, Elspeth?”

  Another shake and more leaves. This time, Widdershins face did soften a bit. “Me too.”

  She pushed to her feet, and Viola and Detective Crowne tensed. “I don’t know, though. Why bother giving in now? You could bring someone in to do it.”

  Viola rolled her eyes. “Listen, you old hag, you used black magic for this. We’re not stupid. We’d have to use more to undo it. You’ve caused everyone heartache, and you’ve managed to fix it so that it isn’t likely to get better. Just undo this.”

  Widdershins raised an eyebrow. Viola grinned, but it wasn’t nice. “Or you and I could take a walk over there and see what kind of arrangement we come up with when we’re out of sight of this bunch. Witch to witch.”

  To an outsider, it would look like they were having a staring contest, and even though Viola didn’t change, something about her grew scary. Darker. After a few tense moments, Widdershins dropped her eyes, and her shoulders slumped.

  “Fine.”

  Her hands raised and Detective Crowne tensed. Viola reached out and tapped his arm and he seemed to relax a bit.

  Purple fog swirled around Widdershins hands, curling through the air like a snake in the grass. It was slow at first and sweat beaded on the witch’s forehead. The purple fog grew a little darker, and I noticed that the others all watched it closely. When it got close to Diana and her dad, they both backed up a step.

  I suppose that’s what black magic looked like. I still didn’t feel a thing. Even so, I scooted away from the tree and the tendrils of fog wrapping around the trunk and twining around the branches.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  The birch began to shake violently. Mr. Grouseman made a strange, dog-like whining noise in his throat. Mr. Sanderston curled one hand around his bicep, holding him in place. Leaves swirled in the air around us like giant snowflakes, and the size of the massive tree diminished. The fog grew thick and dense, and Widdershins chanted something under her breath.

  There was a weird, soundless boom that made all of us wince, and I clapped my hands over my ears. After a last flurry of foliage, the purple cloud cleared, and standing in the moonlight was a slender woman dressed in an old-fashioned, ivory gown. Her hair still had a few sticks and leaves poking out, but I couldn’t fault her. She had been a tree for more than a century.

  Mr. Grouseman moaned low in his throat and ran to her. She didn’t seem to know how to move, but he made up for it. It was like one of those cheesy romantic moments in the movies. If there was moisture in my eye, it was from the night air, and not the looks on their faces.

  Elspeth’s mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out. Mr. Grouseman wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

  Detective Crowne took a couple of steps forward, leaving Ms. Widdershins slumped between the two MIST women. “Elspeth Bennings?”

  Like there was any real doubt who she was. It was kind of freaky how much she and I looked alike. The branches in her hair grew a few inches, trembling. Her lips moved, but no sound came out again. A frustrated grunt leaked between her lips instead.

  I couldn’t imagine how hard it would be to feel human again after so long being a tree. Dad stepped forward, grabbing Crowne’s arm. “Just give her a few minutes. She’s been dormant for a long time.”

  Crowne blinked. “I don’t understand. I thought they said she was aware.”

  Mom smiled. “There’s a big difference between being aware and being human, Detective. She hasn’t had a mouth for a very long time. It will take a bit to remember things. I’m sure William will make sure she gets inside with the rest of us.”

  Elspeth managed a jerky nod, her lips curling into a smile. Mr. Grouseman hadn’t even blinked once she turned. I wasn’t even sure he realized we were still there until he nodded. “I’ll bring her in. We’ll be a few minutes, that’s all.”

  Detective Crowne nodded once. “We’ll wait until you get inside then.”

  Viola and her partner yanked Ms. Widdershins to her feet and prodded her into the house. Mom and Dad walked on either side of me. Mom’s hair was still half willow, and even Dad had a tiny twig and leaf poking out from his hair over one ear.

  To be honest, I was kind of okay with them staying close.

  Kevin and Leo walked in with their mother, and while their dad gave them both a hard look, he seemed relieved to see them safe. When we got inside, we gathered in the living room. Detective Crowne brought a kitchen chair in and put it in the corner. Ms. Widdershins sat down, defeat in every line of her body. She didn’t look at anyone in the room, keeping her gaze on the floor. Viola pulled a piece of chalk from her pocket and drew a circle on the floor, creating some sort of containment circle around her. Mom sighed when she saw the chalk, but didn’t say anything.

  Edmund sat in a second chair on the other side of the room, but unlike Widdershins, he looked confused and sad. Mr. Sanderston kept an eye on him until Viola drew a second circle.

  “You don’t need that,” he said softly. “I’m not going to run away. I know what I did, and I deserve whatever punishment you give me.”

  Diana took a seat next to me on the couch, and her dad’s face was deathly calm. “You might want to rethink that. The confinement circle keeps people out as well as in.”

  Edmund blanched.

  Diana sat next to me, quiet. She kept glancing at Edmund, but the longer we sat there, the more relaxed she got.

  “You okay?” I whispered.

  She nodded. “I wasn’t sure at first. It was scary seeing him after everything. But it’s getting better.”

  I squeezed her hand. Now we had to wait and see whether Elspeth could remember how to be human again. Sometimes dormant dryads never really came back.

  I glanced up at Mom and Dad, who stood beside the couch. They both looked out the window at the pair standing on the lawn and back at each other. Worry creased Mom’s brow, and Dad wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

  I thought about Mr. Grouseman’s face when he looked at Elspeth, and I hoped she could remember.

  Kevin and Leo sat on the floor in front of us after checking with their parents. Leo looked back at Diana. “You okay?”

  She nodded.

  All around us, conversations were reduced to whispers. The unfinished business and waiting made the atmosphere thick with tension and worry. Kevin nodded toward the window, keeping his voice low. “What do you think, Caroline?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t know what to think. I’ve only ever seen a dryad go dormant once, and it was a weird friend of Mom’s. But she chose to. Elspeth was enchanted with black magic. I would imagine that might make it easier because she’d want to be human, right?”

  Diana’s voice was almost too soft to hear. “There’s a lot that’s changed. Her brother and someone she thought would become like a sister did horrible things. Who wants to come back to that?”

  She had a point. Elspeth had a lot to deal with, even if she figured out some of it while being stuck in a trunk.

  “Does it look like they’re making progress out there?” Detective Crowne started toward a window, but Dad shook his head. “Leave them be, Crowne. They’ve got a lot of catching up to do.”

/>   “It can’t be so hard to remember who you are.”

  Mom picked a willow leaf off the back of the couch. “Do you have much experience as a dryad, Detective? Last I heard, you were a leprechaun, and your lot doesn’t have much use for trees unless living in one.”

  I blinked up at my mom, who never said a cross word to anyone.

  Detective Crowne’s face turned three shades of red. Dad saved both of them from a scene. “This isn’t the time or place, either of you. They’ll come in when they can.”

  Crowne opened his mouth, but Dad shook his head. “It’s hard to know, Crowne. She could take a few minutes and be fine, or it could take months.”

  “But she will get past this?”

  Dad glanced down at Mom. “I’m hopeful. But there is always the possibility that she won’t be able to handle the transition after all this time.”

  Edmund’s sob broke through their conversation. Widdershins lifted her head, staring at him. “Stop your blubbering. She’ll be fine. Your family seems to live to torment me.”

  Edmund scrubbed at his face, glaring at her. He stood, walking around the limits of his tiny circle. “Elspeth is strong. She’s managed this long. She’ll come back.”

  An hour later, Mom straightened from her soft conversation with dad. Diana, Kevin and I stopped playing the card game we finally resorted to as a distraction. I could just see Mr. Grouseman and Elspeth through the window. Their steps were jerky and disjointed, but they moved toward the house.

  “Detective, it seems you won’t have to wait as long as you thought,” Dad said.

  The tension that ebbed during the wait swelled back, mixed with anticipation. It hung in the air around us. What would she remember? Could she say? Was she even capable of speech yet?

  Detective Crowne tugged at his shirt and cuffs, flipped his notebook to a new page, and checked his pen to make sure it worked. Widdershins barely moved from her corner. Her face was etched in a deep frown, but her eyes stayed on Edmund. He sat, rumpled and sad, on his chair again, elbows resting on his knees and his hands clasped in front of him. He looked up and startled everyone.