A Moonlit Task

by Tom Hansen

  Linda spoke once Nancy had regained control of her breathing. Why did you stay?

  You said she will enslave you. I can’t let that happen. The words came slowly, painfully as Nancy tried to form coherent thoughts through her clouded mind.

  Linda looked up at her, sadness in her eyes. Oh sweetheart. Dear Nancy. I just wanted you to escape with Edna over there. You shouldn’t have worried about me. My fate is already sealed.

  But you said the capture spell would only last a few minutes. Nancy glanced over to Edna, who was awake but pretending to be asleep. If we can just buy you more time, then you can escape with us.

  Linda looked at Nancy with a melancholy expression. You are a dear, but none of us are making it out of this place now. You should have taken your chance.

  Then we should stop worrying about the problem and start working toward a solution.

  Pain still clouding her body and ability to think, Nancy spoke to Anca, trying to distract her from her spell casting. “Linda knew you were going to kill her that night.”

  Anca glanced up at her for a moment, her eyes lacking the recognition that she was actually paying attention. Whatever Anca was concentrating on seemed to be important and easily susceptible to distraction. Nancy was all too happy to help. She couldn’t let Linda sacrifice herself. She would grasp onto any hope she could.

  Her leg twitched again, a brief shot of pain ran down it. She glanced at Edna and the tiger, hoping she hadn’t just made the worst decision of their lives.

  “Too scared to do your own dirty work? You probably wouldn’t have beat her in a fair fight. Is that why you used Peter over there for all your bidding, killing all those other witches? Because you were too scared of doing the work yourself? Had to get a boy to do it?”

  Nancy spit on the ground, spittle mixed with mucus and blood.

  “I mean, just look at me. I don’t know any magic, but you have to tie me up all the same, don’t you? Because you are too scared to even face me one on one. Miss Big Powerful Witch can’t handle a little old lady that doesn’t have any powers. Is that it?”

  Anca spun around, anger flashing in her eyes. “Silence!” She turned back to the circle and started to mutter some inaudible words, holding a jar of mashed herbs in one hand, a paintbrush in another.

  Nancy smiled. It was working. “Or you will what? Torture me again? Each time you do it, you’re using up the precious energy that you need to do whatever you’re doing right now. Let me guess, you’re trying to capture Linda? You know she’s not even in the circle? She’s hanging out over with Peter right now.”

  Anca paused, glancing quickly over to the cages then back to Linda.

  “I said shut up.” Her voice was low and tense.

  “Or what? Go ahead, hit me again with your powerful whatever that was. I can take it all day long.”

  Anca pointed to the cages. Her voice was calm and level but her eyes gave away the boiling rage just under the surface. “Or I will hurt your friend over there. How will she be able to take it, huh? You may be able to handle it, due to your innate magic, but what about her?”

  Nancy paused. She couldn’t have Anca doing that, but she still had to keep Anca distracted. Forgive me, Edna. I’m really trying to keep her from focusing on you.

  Nancy turned and looked at the tiger. All anger drained out of her voice as she spoke to him from across the room. “You see how she is, Peter? You don’t have to live this life anymore. I know what she’s done to you and I will do everything I can to prevent it from happening again. You’re a wonderful young man with a bright future ahead of you. You don’t have to put up with this woman’s crazy any longer.”

  The physical tiger still glared hungrily at her, but the spirit wasn’t lying down anymore. His head was up and his eyes focused on her, listening.

  Good.

  Nancy, what are you doing? It was Linda.

  Nancy turned to her new friend and smiled. I’m getting you some more time. Keep testing the circle and let me know once you can get out.

  “Peter, do you want to see your family again? Do you want to take control of this beast that Anca’s brought out in you? I can help you. You don’t have to have such nightmares any longer. There is a better way.”

  Nancy watched the blue-gray spirit as it shifted uncomfortably inside its iron-secured body. The sound of the chains flexing and relaxing was music to her ears.

  “Peter, you are young. You have your entire life ahead of you. You have the power within yourself to resist what this woman is doing to you. I believe in you. I have the figurine that Anca used to control your tiger form. I have the book you stole from her to give to me. You already know what she’s doing, and you knew how to make it stop. Together, we can fix you.”

  Anca whirled around, rage boiling in her eyes. “I said shut up! You know I don’t need you alive, right? I can do the same thing I’m doing to Linda, harness that power any way I need. I already know the book is in your house. It’s just a matter of time before I find it.”

  Anca’s fingers trembled as she breathed in heaping gulps of air. She seemed much larger than usual, and her visage far darker. Her eyes were dull, nothing reflecting in them anymore, which frightened Nancy more than anything else. Strangest of all, there was no hint of the blue-gray spirit that all the others in the room shared. Anca’s was mostly gray and black at this point. Little wisps of black smoke curled off her skin, evaporating into the air.

  No, I have to keep going, keep her distracted.

  Nancy decided to take a leap at what was going on between the different colors of the spirits.

  “So you’re delving into the dark arts? Little bit of black magic to cap off your day? I can see it pouring off your skin right now. Black wisps. Your eyes are sunken in, and you look worse than you normally do. Now I know why people always called witches crones. You are the epitome of crone-like behavior. Will your skin keep getting more and more wrinkled as you keep going with this? Is there even any turning back?”

  The blackness surrounding Anca appeared to find new energy in addition to the wisps of smoke. Little sparks danced across her skin like tiny lightning bolts. They crackled and popped with electrical fury. They were fascinating to behold, but given the circumstances, Nancy wondered if she had pushed Anca too far.

  “You bitch! You know nothing about what I have been through! You don’t know me and I have had enough of your incessant talking. You are nothing and will always be nothing!”

  Anca raised her hands. The black smoke and lighting poured off them in sheets. Sparks danced between her fingers like a Jacob's ladder, beginning at the webbing between her fingers and continuing out to the tips, where they burst in tiny explosions of grimy electricity.

  Oh shit. What have I done?

  Anca murmured something under her breath and thrust her fingers forward.

  Just as she did, the haze around the circle blinked like a lightbulb about to short circuit.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Linda’s spirit screamed and jumped forward to intercept the wave of sparking blackness that Anca hurled toward Nancy.

  Linda took the spell square in the chest. Like water from a fire hose through tissue paper, it tore through her translucent body. Nancy watched in horror as the blackness enveloped and disintegrated the bright blue spirit of Linda Hamada.

  For the second time in a week, Nancy watched Linda die.

  “No!” Nancy cried as she swung her arms around from behind her and jumped forward, trying to reach the disappearing wisps of blue. She wanted to grab her, pull her out of harm’s way, keep her around for a bit longer, but her hands grasped nothing but air.

  Instead of hitting her square in the chest, the vastly diminished black blast of energy hit Nancy’s left shoulder, spinning her around and toppling her to the floor in a heap. Her left arm spasmed and burned with a solar intensity.

  Edna screamed, a mournful wail of anguish.

  Anca turned to face the cages, where Edna’s scream had distr
acted her. Edna huddled in the center of the cage, trying to keep her arms and feet away from the paws of the tiger whose chain was just long enough for it to get a meaty paw between the bars. The tiger snarled and pulled on its chain, trying to get at the terrified woman.

  “Beast, attack!” Anca threw her hands into the air and the shackle around the beast’s neck unhinged and fell away. It lunged at Edna, who cringed further into the back of the cage. The massive paw barely missed tearing her flesh.

  “Kill Nancy, you idiot!” Anca screamed. She was limping, hobbling. Her face an amalgamation of rage and pain. She had paid a price for that killing spell.

  The tiger turned. A deep-seated urgency for survival welled up in Nancy as the large cat’s hungry eyes locked with hers. Her heart pounded in her chest and the taste of blood and the smell of burned hair filled her with fear. Her shoulder burned in agony, and she was forced to scramble backward along the cold floor using one arm. She edged backwards, trying to put some distance between herself and the tiger.

  If Nancy and Edna had just ran, they would be safe.

  Tears streamed down Nancy’s face.

  The Tiger-Peter took a few steps forward, stretched his cramped legs, and roared, his venomous eyes bouncing back and forth between Nancy and Anca.

  Nancy Moon had killed Linda. It was all her fault.

  Anca commanded loud and fast, “Kill HER!” pointing at Nancy.

  The tiger took another step forward. It opened its mouth and licked its chops.

  Nancy's mind flashed with the notion that this was not just some beast, but this was Peter Lin, whose mother had died when he was young. The same young man that had helped her move boxes downstairs only a few days ago. The man she’d promised Linda she would help then abandoned to Anca's twisted desires.

  Nancy had failed him, dooming him to a life of forced servitude.

  “Please, Peter,” Nancy begged. She backed up against the warehouse wall. The cold brick did not keep her from sweating, but gave her chills in addition to the fear crawling under her skin. “Peter, I’m so sorry. Please listen to me.”

  Apprehension grew in Nancy. She glanced to the side, at Edna, still inside her cage. The two locked eyes for a brief moment, exchanging a glance that conveyed mutual admiration, respect, and terror. Nancy mouthed the words, “I’m so sorry.”

  Edna wiped a tear from her cheek and nodded.

  That woman.

  “Run, Edna, make it out while you can,” she said, soft and quiet, inaudible to anyone but her.

  A sudden clarity hit Nancy’s mind. She knew she was going to die; she knew that now. Only, she would not die lying on her back, cowering. She would face her attacker head on.

  “You killed her, you know.” Nancy’s eyes didn’t leave the beast that was slowly padding its way down to her. She spoke in almost a monotone voice, just barely audible for Anca to hear. She didn’t know if the tiger could understand, but at this point she didn’t care. “That death spell or whatever you were about to do to me, you hit Linda with it.”

  Anca spun around at the place where Linda had been, then back to Nancy, a wild expression on her face. Shock? Anger? Surprise? Nancy didn’t really care.

  Despite the wild look in her eyes, Anca appeared physically drained. The blackness that once filled her visage had faded. Like ink dropped into a pond eventually fades into nothingness, whatever power she had surrounded herself with was gone.

  Anca’s body movements mirrored her drained power. She leaned up against the desk, holding herself up with one hand. Her breaths labored as her chest heaved. She wore a pained and confused expression.

  Nancy twisted her body to allow her good arm to start pushing her up from the floor. With some effort, she managed to get herself to a kneeling position. “I will not die lying on my back. I won’t give you the satisfaction,” Nancy said to Anca.

  Anca sneered. “I don’t care how you die, but I do hope he takes his time.”

  Nancy stared into the tiger’s eyes. He was nearly to her, slowly padding his way to her doom. She gave him a small smile, which made him pause in his steps.

  “I don’t know that you will have that satisfaction.” Her eyes softened as she looked his his mournful eyes.”

  “He knew.” Nancy whispered.

  Anca’s expression of derision flashed with concern. “What?”

  “Peter knew what you were doing to him. I bet you thought you were so clever, harnessing his power to use for your own ends, but you didn’t realize just how strong he was. He knew and he planned. He outsmarted you.

  “He knows you don’t care for him. Even in this form he’s listening, paying attention.” Her eyes had not left those large, round, golden eyes of his. She wanted him to see her eyes, see the lack of fear in them. She hoped it was enough to get through to the man underneath the fur and claws.

  Anca spat, “He does no such thing. He’s just a dumb animal, and I control him.”

  “Maybe you do control his actions, but you do not control his thoughts. His thoughts are his own. His heart is large and full of love. You can’t compete against that. He has so many people that love and care for him, and he knows it. You are playing with things you know nothing about, and you will get burned. You may be able to coerce him for now, but soon you will lose your power over him.”

  Nancy was calm. Far calmer than she had any right to be. She flashed a bloodstained grin at Anca. “You will never have his love.”

  “What is taking you so long, you stupid theran?” Anca shrieked, pointing at Nancy again. “Kill the witch!”

  Peter slowly loomed over Nancy. The smell of raw meat and overgrown cat breath hit her.

  It should have been disgusting, but it only calmed her more.

  She looked up at Peter, who turned his head down at her. “You are so strong.” Her words were slow, full of caring and decency. She moved to cup his orange face but stopped as her fingertips brushed his fur. “I’m so sorry for failing you, my son. It’s not your fault. I should have listened to Linda earlier; I should have trusted my gut.”

  The tiger didn’t move. Could he understand her? Nancy’s heart seemed to skip a beat at the thought. She rested her hand on his snout. the warmth from his breath was terrifying and her hand shook. She had to touch him, let him know he was loved and cared for.

  “You didn't kill her, Peter. The burden of guilt is not yours. She gave herself so you could live. She sought me out so you would know she forgives you. And I failed her. She gave me a simple task to save a young man from a terrible predicament, and I failed. I can't ask you to forgive me. I don't deserve that. I only ask that you find peace with yourself. I'm sorry it had to end like this."

  She dropped her hand to her side, frowning, fighting back tears that yearned to flow down her face. Shame caused her to look away. “I met your mother. She came to me in a dream. She was so beautiful, so caring. I wish you had gotten to know her.”

  Nancy lifted her head back up to look into those wide golden eyes. They were darker now. She wondered how much he could truly understand her. “You no longer need to be haunted by those nightmares. You aren’t the one doing this, Anca is. I’m sorry you are suffering.”

  Peter bent down, and opened his mouth. The foul-smelling breath made Nancy want to cringe but she held her ground, waiting for the bite. She closed her eyes from the moisture. A slimy mass of cat tongue scraped across her face as he tasted his victim. Steamy air from his nostrils coated her face as he exhaled.

  This was it, her time had come. She braced for the bite.

  But none came. Instead, she heard him chuff through his partially open mouth. Short bursts of air exhaled through his lungs almost sounded like a laugh.

  What was happening?

  Suddenly his presence was gone, as wind caught Nancy’s matted hair and swept it up and over her head. She heard a thud and a predatory growl followed by the soft patter of cat paws hitting the wood floor a few feet away.

  She opened her eyes hesitantly, scared at w
hat she would see.

  The imposing shape of the tiger was no longer hovering above her. Instead, flashes of orange and black fur danced at the periphery of her vision. She turned to get a better look.

  Peter padded toward Anca, who backed away from him around the corner of her desk. Blood welled on Anca’s shoulder, through her slashed open shirt. Anca’s eyes were wide with fright and confusion.

  “No, no, no! Back!” Anca thrust out her hands over and over. Little trails of smoke sloughed off her fingers, but nothing else happened other than a couple minor sparks.

  “You beast! Heel! I created you!” Anca tripped over a pile of books and stumbled backward, catching herself on the desk.

  Anca thrust out a hand again and a stream of sparks tore through the air, catching onto the tiger’s coat and sizzling. She murmured something in a foreign language while twirling her fingers. Indigo light sprayed from her hands in violent arcs. Her wild head of hair stood up, flailing as she moved.

  Anca turned her body to the side, planted her foot, grounding herself, and bent her knees. She pulled both of her cupped hands backward. Between them she held a pulsing white ball of lightning.

  She yelled and thrust her arms out. A flash of yellow and orange filled Nancy’s field of view as Peter dodged to the side and zigged back at Anca. He was nearly as fast at the lightning itself.

  He slammed into Anca from the side, causing her to release the lightning orb at an angle that arced toward the roof.

  A loud explosion boomed as the lightning hit. Fiery wood debris rained down on Nancy as she scuttled to the side to get out of the way. Sparks scattered everywhere, catching parts of the floor on fire.

  “Nancy!” Edna yelled, “Over here, let’s go!” She had gotten out of the cage that Nancy had left unlocked.

  Nancy couldn’t turn away from the fight. Fear clenched her throat and her muscles. She barely noticed the pain in her left arm. Anca threw a fireball with one hand, hitting him in the side. The tiger yelped in agony at his burned flesh but swiped at the witch, tearing into her arm and shredding further the loose shirt she wore.