“Did you see how I did that?”
“Jerome see.”
“Okay, now you do it, but remember you have to think about killing that malodyte. You have to destroy him.” She took his hand, balled it into a fist for him and pointed it toward the tree. “Now open it, Jerome. Open it and show that malodyte who the new boss is.”
Jerome shook his fist and then snapped it open. In that instant, a massive energy wave shot from the palm of his hand and completely annihilated the tree, shredding it into mulch.
“There you go! Who’s the new Bossman?”
“Jerome da new Bossman!”
“That’s right. Ain’t he, Tony? Ain’t he the new Bossman?”
“He sure is,” I said, smiling like a proud papa. “He’s the new badass Bossman. Malodytes watch out.”
“Badass Bossman. Watch out malodyte.”
Lilith said, “All right then. If you do that and close the portal, those bad malodytes can’t ever come back here and hurt us.”
“You no worry, good witch. Jerome save you.”
“Good.” She looked at me. “I think we’re ready.” She turned Jerome to the portal, started him toward it, but suddenly stopped. “Wait. One more thing.”
She eased down onto one knee and rolled the backpack off her shoulder. Before that, I had nearly forgotten all about it. It seemed clear that she had brought Jerome a going away gift, one she did not intend to let us know about until that moment.
I said to her, “Umm, Lilith? What are you doing?”
She ignored me, and instead unzipped the bag and removed a mason jar filled with a strange, grayish swirling mass of gas. Handing it to Jerome, she said, “Take this, but be very careful with it.”
“Lilith?” I leaned over her shoulder to get a better look. “Is that what I think it is?”
“It’s Gypsy. Yes.”
“No! Lilith!”
“Tony, it has to be this way, now shut up. Jerome, a very bad witch lives in this jar. Her name is Gypsy and she’s more evil than any malodyte. Do you understand me?”
“Bad witch, no good. Bad!”
“That’s right, and she can’t stay here in this world. She has to go back with you.”
“Nooo,” he said, stepping back. “Jerome no want bad witch.”
“I know that, but you’re not going to keep her. You’re going to bury her. Do you understand? I want you to bury the witch. As soon as you close the portal, turn right around and dig the biggest, deepest hole you can possibly dig. Put her in there carefully and then fill the hole up again. Can you do that for me?”
Jerome took the jar and then rolled his eyes up at me as if checking for my approval. I gave in to Lilith and nodded my okay.
Lilith stood up and redirected Jerome toward the spiraling column of vertical wind. “All right, next stop, the portal express. Are you ready kid?”
Jerome took several tentative steps toward the portal before stopping to look back at us. Ursula let out a cry and turned her eyes away. Dominic held her, pressing her cheek to his shoulder. Carlos bit his lower lip and nodded, gesturing goodbye with a sort of half wave, half salute.
Lilith stood with her arms crossed; her face turned thirty degrees to the portal, as if maybe she didn’t want to look at all. I knew she did, though.
Me? I remember thinking how was it that I could forget how to breathe? My vision blurred from the wind, or so I told myself, yet my tears knew the truth. I gave Jerome a chin up nod, my final approval. He’d not need it anymore after this, I thought. He’d come into his own. He truly was the new badass Bossman.
As he edged closer to the portal, I hoped he would stay strong. I hoped he’d show the rest of us how it was done. In our years together, his bravery had always inspired me. His determination astonished me. I thought of all the things we’d been through, the hardships, the battles, the chills and thrills. He’d shown character, poise and confidence. I realized then that he was always the badass Bossman. He just let me think I was.
In the final seconds before entering the portal, I imagined him stopping again and looking back over his shoulder one last time. I expected he’d run to me then, fall into my arms and give me one last hug, man-to-man.
He didn’t, though. He just held on to his jar and walked, his spiny tail flipping side to side in nervous apprehension. On his last step toward the portal, I opened my mouth to call him back, but the portal sucked him up like a bug in a vacuum. It happened so quickly, so suddenly. I wasn’t ready. I gasped. I staggered toward the opening, my brain telling me to follow him before it was too late.
Carlos and Dominic flanked my sides and grabbed my arms. They pulled me back with soft voices, hushing the utterance of sorrow bleeding from my lips.
“Jerome…” I heard my voice crack in whispers. “I’m sorry.”
Another voice cooed in my ear, “It’s all right, Tony.” It was Lilith, dropping light kisses upon my neck, cheek and earlobe. “It’s all right. I’m here.”
“He’s gone,” I said, my eyes still locked on the column of wind that had taken my friend. “Gone.”
“Shhh, I know. It’s okay.” I felt the tug of all three easing me away. “We need to stand back now, Tony. Jerome’s going to blow the portal.”
“Jerome.”
“Yes, Jerome. Come on. We need to give him room now. Step away from the portal.”
We pulled back some forty feet or more, in time to watch the first series of electric pops and snaps exciting the spiraling column of wind, but not much more.
“I don’t get it,” said Lilith. “It’s not working.”
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “He doesn’t get it. Jerome’s not appreciating the full potential of the Quintessential. We have to let him know how serious this is.”
Carlos said, “How do we do that?”
“I don’t know. If only there were… Wait!” I pointed beyond the vertical wind column. “I have an idea.”
I ran around to the backside of the fire pit and dug up the nasty malodyte head that Jerome had buried there earlier. Returning it to the others, I said, “This will do it.”
“Gross!” Lilith pressed her hand through my air space so that I might know to keep my distance. I held the head up with its Cyclops eye staring blankly back at her.
“He may be gross, but he’s the best friend we have at the moment.”
I turned to the tower of wind and tossed the head into it. It shot up into the column in a blur and quickly disappeared into the portal.
“All right, stand back. If I know Jerome, that’ll get his attention.”
We all turned and ran as fast as we could. About five steps into our retreat, all hell broke loose. A tremendous explosion and shockwave swept us off our feet and carried us over the mud berm. Trees came down. Forest debris of all sorts blew past us in a tsunami like heat wave.
In the next instance, it was over. Small bits of twigs and dried leaves rained down upon us in a soft parade as we lay on the ground, ears ringing, our clothes scorched. We were okay, though. Somehow, we survived unscathed. Everything was bright again. The sparkle of sunshine broke through the canopy and bathed the ground in a warm familiar glow.
We turned back to look at ground zero. A shallow crater marked the footprint of the portal’s blast. But for that, not a sign of its existence remained.
Lilith rolled the backpack off her shoulder again and took out her EMF meter. She turned it on and sampled our surroundings.
“It’s clean,” she declared. “No electromagnetic fields. The portal’s closed.”
“Permanently?” I asked.
“Permanently.”
“Good,” I said, though inside, I only half meant it.
The rest of us exchanged glances of mixed feelings. For Dominic, Ursula and Lilith, I couldn’t begin to interrupt those feelings, but for Carlos, I knew. I walked up to him and gave him a hug. He hugged me back. We had both lost someone dear to us.
We turned and started away, when a curious sound ca
ught our attention.
“What was that?” Lilith asked.
Ursula pointed back at the portal’s footprint. “`There, `tis something shiny what fell from the sky.”
We hurried back. Lilith picked the thing up. Dominic asked, “Is that what I think it is?”
Lilith showed it to me. I was breathless, speechless and dumbfounded all at once. “I don’t believe it,” she said to me.
Carlos didn’t get it. “Believe what?”
I took the object from Lilith’s hand. “It’s the lid to the mason jar. The little shit didn’t do it.”
He still didn’t get it. “Didn’t do what!”
I rolled my eyes to the clouds and shook my head faintly. “He didn’t bury the witch.”
Author’s note:
Thank you for reading Bury The Witch. It’s your continued support and kind words that keeps this author writing. I love hearing from you all. If you leave a review for Bury The Witch (and I sincerely hope you do), please remember not to include spoilers.
As for book eleven in the series, I have already begun writing it. I anticipate its release by late 2014. In the meantime, you can follow its progress on my Facebook page. Just click like and I’ll keep you up to date.
BURY THE WITCH: Book 10 (Detective Marcella Witch's Series) Page 29
