by Amy Boyles
I shot Axel a knowing look. “Well, I say we go for it.”
Axel nodded. “Hands together, y’all. Let’s do this.”
I closed my eyes, called on my magic and whisked us out into the night.
The house was bleak. I mean seriously bleak. For all the money that Forbes Henry was supposed to have, his house certainly didn’t look like it.
The old mansion had green moss growing on the roof. The black shutters were missing slats, and the shrubs were overgrown. A spot on my shoulders suddenly itched.
I told myself not to touch anything to avoid a staph infection.
“Don’t touch anything,” Betty grumbled.
Axel glanced around uneasily. “Let’s go inside. I don’t feel safe out here.”
A wind ruffled Flower's fur. “Tell me about it.”
“Storm’s coming. Better to be inside than out here where we end up all wet.” Betty clapped her hands, and the front doors opened.
We shuffled in. Lights buzzed and crackled to life as Betty snapped her fingers.
“Dining room should be easy to find,” Betty said. “Follow me.”
A staircase split the house in two. We followed Betty to the right and entered a parlor. The parlor led to a connected living room, and after that we entered the kitchen. An empty can of soup sat on the counter. Next we entered the dining room.
A mahogany table that easily seated twelve stretched in front of us. An empty bowl sat on the table. I peered into the room, searching for a broken window, but didn’t find one.
I exchanged a glance with Betty and Axel. “No broken window.”
Axel folded his arms, making his biceps bulge. A vein throbbed in his neck. “You know what that means.”
“Forbes lied.” Betty’s lower lip trembled. “He’s a nasty old coot, but I never expected that Forbes would call a magic eater to kill us off, one by one.”
Fear spiked down my spine. “And now he’s back at the house. We left our family alone with him.” I grabbed Axel’s hand. “We’ve got to get back there. Now!”
A door at the far end of the room banged open. I gasped and turned to see what could’ve caused such a sound.
Looming like a dark mist, Erebus drifted into the room, its sights set on Betty.
TEN
The magic eater loomed like a black hole of energy, ready to suck the life from any and all of us. The creature had changed since I’d last seen it. The thing had a face that was oblong and reminded me of Edvard Munch’s The Scream—an open void that would lead a person straight to the other side.
And not the good side.
Erebus’s body was a sheet of mist curling at the floor and spreading out like the plague.
Terror, cold-filled terror hit me in my spine and slid to my gut. If Erebus’s was the last face I saw before dying, someone would be in trouble because I’d be ticked off at that.
Like, I’d be so mad because his face was not a pretty one.
“Did anyone bring the book?” I said.
“No,” Axel said, his voice tense.
“We really screwed up there,” Betty added.
I stared at Axel and my grandmother in disbelief. “How could we have forgotten the book?”
“No one expected to see him, remember?” Betty said. “We didn’t figure he’d be standing here waiting for us.”
I stared as Erebus closed in on us. “We thought wrong.”
“Please stop talking and get behind me,” Axel said.
I flexed my fingers and splayed my legs in a fighting stance. “No way. You’re not taking this thing on alone.”
He flung out his arm. Axel was going to put me behind him one way or another. I wouldn’t have it. But then I saw him yank a black pouch from his pocket and pull out a charcoal-gray looking powder.
He flung it at the magic eater and chanted something.
“You can’t stand in my way,” it hissed in a low, bone-chillingly even voice. It was like magic eating was simply part of its job. Just what it had to do in its daily life. Get up, drink some coffee, suck the life from someone—you know, totally routine.
No biggie, don’t mind me while I eat this person’s magic.
“You must leave,” Axel demanded. “You can’t have her today.”
Erebus drifted forward. When he reached the spot where some of the powder lay on the carpet, the creature leaned over, and as delicately as a ballerina, it appeared to sniff the gray substance.
He jerked his head to Axel. “That won’t stop me.”
Axel folded his arms over his chest. “Then cross it.”
Erebus took one step forward and screamed in pain. The magic eater jerked back. “You tricked me,” he said accusingly.
“You saw what it was,” Axel said. He fisted a handful of the powder from the pouch and heaved it back. “I said leave!”
Axel hurled it at Erebus. The creature’s mouth opened grotesquely. The powder, which I now realized had small rocks in it, pelted him.
The magic eater howled in pain before vanishing into the night.
I released a low breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding and threw myself into Axel’s arms. “It’s gone, right?”
“For now,” Axel said. “He’ll be back tomorrow. I didn’t buy us much time, but I did give us a little.”
I released Axel and hugged Betty. “I’m so glad we’re safe.”
“Me too, kid,” she said.
I gestured to Axel’s pouch. “What is that?”
Axel closed the pouch and tucked it back in his pocket. “It’s cremated happiness.”
I squinted at him in confusion. “I’m sorry? Cremated happiness?”
Axel nodded. “It’s happiness taken from children, made real and then cremated.”
I jutted out my chin. “Were any children harmed in the making of that cremated happiness?”
He shook his head. “Don’t worry. No children were harmed. The happiness was made into a clay figure and then pulverized. That’s why there are so many large pieces. The only thing that was harmed was Erebus.”
Betty adjusted her handbag on her arm. “And rightly so. Thank you for saving us, Axel. How did you ever happen to think that cremated happiness would work?”
He shrugged. “Something so evil would obviously be repelled by too much light.”
“Well, I for one am glad you thought of it,” Flower said. “Saved our rear ends.”
Axel nodded. His jaw was clenched, and his eyes narrowed. “I only hope it works again. Magic eaters tend to learn and adapt.”
I had to admit my hope sank when he said that.
Axel jerked his head. “Now about the broken window.”
“To heck with the broken window,” Betty said. “That creature was waiting for us. Pure and simple. Could’ve been coincidence, but as I don’t see any broken glass, I don’t think so.”
I clenched my fists. “Forbes may as well have sent us here himself.”
“Sent us to our deaths,” Flower said.
Axel crossed to the table and inspected the rug underneath it. He knelt and ran his fingers atop the threads. “There isn’t any glass on here, and if Forbes was as scared as he said he was, I doubt he would’ve taken the time to fix it before he left.”
“And we know Erebus didn’t fix it.” I strode over to the huge lead-paned window and pressed my hand to one of the squares. “It’s solid.”
Betty cocked her chin. “It looks like Forbes has some explaining to do.”
“Let me get us out of here.” I crossed back to Axel, Betty and Flower. We joined hands, and I focused on whisking us back to the house.
I called on my magic, but nothing happened. No spark lit in my gut, and no spikes of energy zipped down my spine.
“We’re ready, Pepper,” Betty announced. “Take us back.”
“I’m trying,” I nearly growled in aggravation. “But it’s not working.”
Betty huffed in irritation. She puffed up her chest. “Hang on, I’ll do it.”
&
nbsp; Even though I was slightly embarrassed at my magic for not wanting to work, I gave Betty an enthusiastic nod. “I must’ve used it all up when I transported us here.”
“It’s common for newbies to overuse their magic.” Betty’s grip on my hand tightened. “Hang on.”
She grunted, which I knew to mean my grandmother was calling on her magic.
I waited, but we still stood in the middle of Forbes’s dining room. “Hmm. Must be the stress,” Betty mumbled. “My power doesn’t seem to want to work, either.”
Betty shot Axel a hopeful smile. “Will you do the honors?”
Axel scrubbed a hand down his cheek. “Of course. Hold tight.”
He inhaled, his chest heaving, but once again nothing happened.
“We’ve been blocked,” Axel announced.
I’d never heard that word before. “What do you mean, blocked?”
Betty dropped my hand. “He means our magic has been blocked from working.”
“By who?”
Betty scowled. “I’ll give you three guesses, and the first two don’t count.”
Forbes.
Panic clambered up my throat. I pushed it back down. I couldn’t let negative emotions get the best of me. Not now. Not when danger lurked.
“So we can’t get home?” I asked.
“We can’t transport from in here,” Axel explained. “But if we go outside, the situation might be different.”
As much as I didn’t want to leave the cover of the house, I knew it was the only option. I plucked Flower from the floor, tucked her under my arm, and we headed out.
Once we were clear of the home, we formed a ring and Axel tried to transport us again.
His chin set at an angle that suggested he was frustrated. “It still isn’t working.”
Betty spoke up. “Let me try.”
She did but still nothing.
The wind howled. The storm was closing in on us. “What can we do?” I shouted above the rustling leaves and swaying branches.
“We’re still blocked,” Betty snarled. “All of us, I’d bet. We can’t use our magic. At least not to transport. We’ll have to walk back.”
I balked. “Walk?”
Axel nodded. “The shortest way is through the Cobweb Forest.”
“At night? Is that a good idea?”
Betty shouldered her purse and glared into the distance. “It’s the best option we have.”
“It’s the only option.” Axel pointed to the house. “I’ll go back in and see if I can round up some flashlights.”
The three of us waited outside until he returned. Luckily Axel managed to find exactly three torches to light our way.
We set off through the trees, keeping close together. Flower scurried at our feet, staying only a yard or two away at most.
“I feel so naked out here,” I said.
Axel wrapped an arm around my shoulder. “We’ll be okay. As scary as the Cobweb Forest is, it might be our best bet. If Erebus is able to get out from under the powder’s hold before daylight, he would have a hard time tracking us in there. Too many other creatures to contend with.”
Betty nodded. “The forest will protect us.” She paused. “It also might kill us—we could run into something deadly. But I’m hoping things don’t turn out that way.”
Great. So now my emotions were stuck somewhere between relief and even greater anxiety.
“What about the storm?” I said the words, but as soon as our feet touched the layer of leaves that made up the forest bed, the wind died down.
“Things work differently here,” Betty said.
“So I see.”
The only sounds as we walked were our feet crunching on the leaves. I felt like an open target. The forest itself curled around us, the trees leaning in—or seeming to—cradling us as we walked.
Yet at the same time I felt like a sitting duck, simply waiting for the moment Erebus decided to appear from the mist.
A noise to my left made me jump. I glanced over to see a pine pull its roots from the ground and shuffle off to find a different location to drop its root bed down.
“Strange forest,” Flower said.
I smirked. “You should be used to it. Aren’t you from here?”
The possum hiked a shoulder. “Some things you never get used to.”
I could understand that.
“Stay alert,” Axel murmured. “If you see anything strange, let the rest of us know.”
My jaw dropped. “Anything strange? Everything in this forest is strange.”
Which was when a family of spiders the size of my fist traipsed right in front of us, crossing our path. They scurried along out of my flashlight’s beam. I shined the flashlight on my face and shot Axel a pointed look that said, See what I mean.
His beam followed the spiders. “At least that seems normal compared to what else could be hiding in here.”
The wind rustled the leaves, and a bad feeling crept over me like a blanket. “What if the trees move so much we can’t find our way back? What if we end up lost in the forest?”
Betty tapped the butt of her flashlight. “It’s got a compass. As long as we head due east, we should be fine.”
“So I guess it’s pretty obvious that Forbes set us up,” I said.
Betty curled her fingers in front of her light. “As soon as we get back to the house, I’m going to wring his neck.”
I stepped over a dead branch teeming with bugs. “But how could he have known someone would check the house?”
“I think he counted on his story raising suspicion,” Axel said. “I only hope his plan wasn’t to get rid of a few of us so that he could then hurt the others.”
“He looks pretty frail,” I argued. “I mean, what do y’all really think he’s capable of?”
“Forbes Henry is rich and powerful—in magic, that is,” Betty said. “Trust me, I know.”
“So tell me the story—why did y’all think calling a blight down on Magnolia Cove would be good?”
“I want to know this, too.” Axel swept his beam to the left and right. “I find it out of character for you, Betty.”
She snorted. “There’s no doubt I’m the pillar of perfection, but even the best of us stumble sometimes.”
“Story,” I demanded. “We’ve got time. Heck, we might have all night.”
“We thought we were helping the town.”
“Isn’t that always how it is,” I said.
Her gaze swept over my face as if to tell me, Shut it. When I made a motion that I was zipping my lips, Betty began.
“Magnolia Cove was in the middle of a drought. Snow said she had found an ancient spell to stop it, make the rains come. To this day I’m still not sure if she really knew what she was summoning or not. We didn’t want to tell anyone what we were doing in case officials got angry, so we kept it a secret.”
Betty huffed as we climbed a gradual slope. “We needed six and we had five people. Snow had a cousin, a young man with a lot of power.”
“CJ Hix?” I said, still unable to believe that sweet, innocent CJ was capable of bringing any kind of blight to town. He was just too kind, too golly gee, Miss Dunn, for me to think anything bad of him.
And I definitely didn’t think CJ had anything to do with the magic eater.
“CJ didn’t know what he was getting involved in. Snow handled getting him to the meeting place, and we worked the spell. I heard the words and in that moment knew what Snow was calling forth wasn’t rain—I knew it was evil, but we were too far along to stop.”
She shuddered. “I remember catching eyes with Saltz Swift, and he had the same expression I had—we were doing something terribly, terribly wrong. A horrible thing would happen to our town and it did. The blight killed what crops were left and started to turn the drinking water sour.
“People were getting sick. We had to stop it. And we were all too afraid to tell anyone what we’d done. Poor CJ was a victim in all this, lassoed in. But in order to stop the terror
that had plagued our town, we had to figure out a counter spell.”
Betty stared blankly ahead. “Snow found it. Said what we had called was an actual spirit of blight. To stop it, the thing needed to be contained. We had to meet again. So we met and worked the new spell. The blight became something small and tangible—like an orb of fog. Snow took it and promised to dispose of it, send it back to the other world. Only one witch could do the final step, and we all trusted that it had been dealt with.”
Betty didn’t say anything else.
“Are you wondering if Snow really sent it back?”
Betty grimaced. Finally she shook her head. “How could she not have? Certainly we would’ve known if the blight hadn’t been returned to where it came from.”
“It would’ve come back,” Axel said.
“That’s what I believe,” Betty replied.
A breeze whipped up the hair on the back of my neck. I hunched my shoulders and shivered. “But why would Forbes, after all this time, send a magic eater after you?”
Betty picked her way over a pile of twigs. “Maybe he doesn’t want anyone to talk about what happened after he dies. No sullied reputation for Forbes, alive or dead.”
“People have been killed for less,” Axel said.
I supposed. “Maybe we shouldn’t talk about these things in front of the possum. Right, Flower? You don’t need to hear about this stuff.”
Flower didn’t answer.
I waved my beam across the ground. “Flower?” All I saw was a sea of leaves and trees. “Did any of y’all see what happened to her?”
Betty shook her head. “No.”
“Me neither,” Axel said.
Panic clambered up my throat. “But why? Where did she go? We can’t leave her here. She’s only a possum.”
Betty placed a hand on my shoulder and squeezed. “I’m afraid we have to leave her.”
“But—”
“No buts, Pepper,” Betty snapped. “We’ve got to get home. Your cousins and our friends are alone with Forbes, a possible murderer.”
And in that moment I knew Betty was right and I’d have to abandon Flower to survive in the Cobweb Forest, alone.
