by Brian Harmon
Ever the optimist, Eric decided that standing next to this guy probably made him look like one very sexy English teacher.
Maybe something was wrong with the part of his brain that was supposed to self-destruct when things like this happened and plunge him into comforting madness. He should be lying on the ground right now, drooling and giggling, blissfully unaware of his impending doom. Instead, his strange little mind was still cracking jokes like this was just another day at the office.
The terrible face withdrew back into the smoke as a gust of wind swirled the choking air around him. When it cleared, Eric had just enough time to dive out of the way before the monster’s grotesque foot ground him into the dirt.
Moving quickly, he rolled back to his feet and ran at the monster’s elephantine heel, plunging the blade into it.
The giant let out a terrible roar and the foot lifted, vanishing back into the smoke.
He didn’t dare linger. He turned and ran.
Behind him, the foot crashed to the earth again, pulverizing the grass where he’d just been standing.
The advantage here, it seemed, was that the monsters were just as blind in this smoke as he was.
It was a little thing, but it was a chance, and the only one he was going to get. He turned and ran toward the field, putting distance between himself and those long legs. Then he turned and shouted, “Over here, ugly!”
He didn’t have time to add a more creative insult. Two massive footsteps shook the ground and he barely managed to run from the giant’s path before it shot past him and stormed into the cornfield.
Now if he could just remain quiet long enough for the dagger to carve its way into the giant’s foot, he might just have a chance.
But the thought had barely crossed his mind when a trio of imps emerged from the smoke and crouched before him.
Eric cursed and took a step back.
The one in the middle snarled at him.
He shook his head. He was out of breath. His heart was still pounding. His whole body ached. Maybe they could tell he wasn’t as much of a challenge as he was at the beginning of the night because they didn’t immediately pounce him. “You know,” he told the little monsters between labored breaths, “compared to that thing out there, you guys are almost cute.”
The imp on the left cocked its head as if it hadn’t ever thought of that before.
“Almost,” Eric reminded it.
Somewhere out in the field, still dangerously close, the giant let out a terrible roar. Was that the cursed blade doing its work? Or was it just pissed off because it had lost him? It was hard to tell.
The imps didn’t seem concerned. They stood their ground, each of them staring at him with those huge, bulging eyes.
“So how do you want to do this?” he asked them. He pointed the dagger at the one in the middle. “You take one, I’ll take the other?”
All three of them cocked their heads at this. None of them moved.
Tough crowd.
“No? Didn’t think so. Well, let’s get it over with then.”
But they still didn’t pounce. All three of them turned their bulging eyes out toward the corn and then they scurried off toward the farmhouse.
Eric watched them disappear into the smoke.
Was it something he said?
The giant howled again. It sounded even farther away now. And that definitely sounded like pain.
A fourth imp ran past behind him, darting by on its way back to the farmhouse.
He turned and took a few steps toward the corn. His cell phone chimed at him.
HE’S RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU!
Eric froze. The magic man. He could almost feel him there, moving toward him.
As the first stalks of corn emerged from the haze, a super imp burst from the field and darted past him without even sparing him a glance.
His heart racing, he turned and looked after it. Seriously? He just took on a giant and they were acting like he wasn’t worth their time?
He fixed his eyes on the field again. Something was out there. A dark figure was moving toward him through the corn. He could see it pushing through the stalks. A black shape in the mottled shadows, bright flames dripping and smoldering from his sleeves.
Eric stood gripping the dagger, his heart racing.
Two ogres emerged from the corn on either side of him. They regarded him for a moment, but their big eyes drifted toward their master and they only stood there and watched.
Apparently, this terrifying demon of a man didn’t need their help. Eric was but a bug in his path, ready to be squashed.
BE CAREFUL!
He slipped the phone back into his pocket and held the dagger in both hands. This was it. This was the final battle. He was about to come face-to-face with the magic man.
His heart was hammering.
Overhead, lightning flashed. Thunder shook the ground.
The magic man pushed through the final stalks of corn and then stopped and stood there, letting Eric look upon him clearly for the first time.
Chapter Forty-Two
The magic man wasn’t quite what Eric had expected.
He was much shorter, for one thing. His black reaper’s cloak was no cloak at all but a simple, black hoodie that was several sizes too big for him. The hood was pulled down low so that it covered all but the soft curve of his chin. The sleeves covered his hands so that only the fire-dripping tips of his fingers showed. He wore blue jeans and scuffed tennis shoes. In spite of the thunder and lightning and smoke-clogged wind, the figure before him looked no more like an evil wizard than anyone else he’d ever seen.
Eric lowered the dagger a little, confused. “You’re…”
The magic man tilted his head just enough to reveal soft lips curled into a knowing grin. Fine, black hair spilled out from under the hood.
He actually took a step back, lowering the dagger even more. “You’re the magic man?” The enemy he’d feared so much was nothing like the nightmare he’d envisioned. For one thing, the magic man wasn’t even a man.
“You were expecting someone else?” she asked. She had to raise her voice a little to be heard over the wind.
Eric tightened his grip on the dagger and stood a little straighter, trying to look as if he wasn’t completely dumbfounded. “Sort of…”
Finally, she lifted her face and let him meet her green eyes.
“I’ve seen you before,” he realized. At first he couldn’t quite remember where it was. Then it came back to him. It was back at the strip club, while Holly was helping her friend, Emily. He was standing in the doorway, urging her to hurry. He’d turned around to make sure nothing monstrous was sneaking up behind him, and saw her there in the hallway, moving toward him. She’d stopped, her green eyes wide and startled. “You were at the club.”
Thunder rolled over them again.
“I was. I wasn’t expecting to see you there. I didn’t even know for sure that you were real until you turned around. Your face… I’ve been seeing it in my dreams for months.”
He recalled the fear in her eyes when she saw him standing there. He remembered thinking that she was scared of him because he was standing around like a creep, watching Margarita and Emily dress. She’d moved on, as if she were just another dancer evacuating the building. She’d blended right in. The only difference was that she’d been fully dressed, wearing the same jeans and jacket she was wearing now, only the hood had been down. He hadn’t even wondered why she was wearing a jacket in July. He’d assumed it was just something she found to throw on as she was leaving her dressing room. He hadn’t thought another thing about her.
Except he had thought about her again, he realized. Once. The last time he peered into Delphinium’s water bowl. He’d seen her face for just an instant. It had come back to him, trying to warn him, but he didn’t understand at the time. He hadn’t recognized the face.
The wind died down for a moment and Eric heard more gunfire from inside the farmhouse, reminding him that he di
dn’t have much time.
He glanced at the ogres on either side of him. They were just standing there, watching, waiting for their mistress’ next order, which would probably be to each seize one of his arms and then make a wish. She had no intention of letting him run back to Delphinium and the other witches. He was on his own. And he was at her mercy.
Lightning flashed across the sky as he fixed his eyes on the girl again. Thunder crashed. A cloud of smoke passed over them, obscuring her from his vision for a moment.
“You can’t be the magic man,” he said when the smoke cleared. “Desmond fought him years ago. You’re too young.”
She smiled again. “Guilty.”
He nodded, understanding. “You just used the story… But… Why?”
“Because it was so easy, of course.”
Yes. It would’ve been easy. A ready-made villain that the coven already had reason to fear.
“Who are you?” he asked. “Why are you trying to kill these people?”
“You still haven’t figured that out yet?”
Eric didn’t understand. “Should I have?”
She cocked her head a little, puzzling over him. “I thought you would, but I guess you haven’t… I don’t get it. You don’t seem so special.”
“Am I supposed to be special?”
“You’d have to be…” she muttered.
Eric stared at her. What did she mean? Why would he have to be special? Why should he understand who she was or why she was doing all this?
Behind him, a powerful boom shook the house. Another of Delphinium’s pulse spells, buying them a few more precious seconds. He turned to see, but the house was little more than a faint shape floating in the haze.
When he looked back again, the magic man (magic woman? Girl?) hadn’t moved. But she was smiling again. “Del acts so smart, but she just doesn’t get it. Everything she does only makes me stronger.”
Eric cocked his head. “What?”
But she only smiled more. “You wouldn’t understand.”
He probably wouldn’t. He wasn’t a witch. (Wizard? Now he was confused.) This magic stuff was well beyond him. But it wasn’t the part about Delphinium making her stronger that had caught his attention. “You called her Del…” he said.
Now her smile disappeared. “What?”
“Delphinium. You called her Del.” Suddenly, he realized what had been bothering him about the conversation with the messenger. It had called her Del also. It’d just slipped out, as if it’d always called her that…
“So?”
Now Eric’s mind was racing. He remembered the spells he’d sat in on.
Who was she really? he thought. The question had come to him while staring into the water, trying to catch just a glimpse of the things the others could see. At the time, he didn’t know what it meant. But now it was starting to come together. “Who was she?” he asked as more thunder rumbled overhead. “Who was the girl in the motel room?”
Her smile returned. “There it is. I knew you’d have to get there eventually.”
Eric couldn’t believe he hadn’t seen it before. Every time they consulted the water, Holly kept telling them she was seeing Sylvia’s face. Delphinium had dismissed it as guilt, had even admitted that she kept seeing her, too. But it wasn’t guilt.
The truth is too painful for her! Norval had said, words spoken through him from some mysterious other place, by some mysterious messenger. Of course. No wonder it had to be him. If Delphinium had come out here, she would have been doomed. The truth would’ve left her helpless. She would’ve found herself facing not her adopted grandfather’s old foe, but her own beloved sister.
Sylvia Dodd wasn’t dead. She was standing right in front of him.
Someone else had burned to death in that motel room.
“She was just a local girl,” replied Sylvia. There was no feeling in her voice at all, as if she were talking about some mundane thing she’d simply thrown out instead of a human being she’d murdered. “Dumpy little thing, but she was easy to manipulate. I think she might’ve really been in love with me. Little idiot. But she was useful. I let her get close to me, let her believe I was in love with her, too. I transferred my psychic fingerprint onto her. So when she died, Del believed it was me. I was free to do as I wished without her sensing me. I could go where I wanted, do what I had to do. She had no idea I wasn’t alone in another town the night Regina burned.”
Eric took a step back, revolted, and the ogres moved toward him, intending to intercept him if he ran. He got the message and held his ground. “It doesn’t make any sense,” he said. He needed to keep talking. He needed more time. “Where did you get all these powers? Holly said you could move things. She said you had dreams sometimes. She never said anything about shooting fire from your hands or conjuring monsters and storms from thin air or ‘transferring your psychic fingerprint.’ Whatever that means…”
“She didn’t know, of course. Sylvia didn’t even know.”
“Sylvia didn’t… What?”
She smiled at him. “Sylvia’s a wimp. A scared little girl, terrified of her own shadow. She can barely stand to even leave her room.”
“But you’re…” Suddenly, another piece clicked into place. How else could someone so nasty live right under Delphinium and Desmond’s roof without them even knowing? Holly said she’d suffered terrible abuse before she was found. She didn’t understand her powers. She’d even made up an imaginary friend to try to explain all the bad things that happened to her. She called her… “Sissy…”
The girl smiled again. “Present.” Her voice was eerily cold.
“A fractured personality.”
“I’m the one who did all those things, not Sylvia. She doesn’t even know I exist.”
Another memory flashed in Eric’s mind. The old drunk at the club. She doesn’t know!
Sissy made a mocking frown. “She’ll be so devastated when she finds out.”
“You’re a monster,” he realized.
Another thunderclap shook the earth around them. Smoke blew across the ground at their feet. Just like at Clodsend, Eric could almost believe that he was standing in the middle of a scene from the apocalypse.
“I’m the reason she was afraid of fire, you know.” She actually seemed to be enjoying this. “She never told anyone what happened to Mom and Dad.”
“No…”
“Yes. Burned to a crisp, I’m afraid.”
Eric squeezed the handle of the dagger so hard that his knuckles turned white. How could anyone be so cruel?
“Don’t worry. They had it coming. Couple of violent drunks. Hateful. Abusive. I probably saved her life that night.”
Eric wasn’t sure what to say to this. He felt sick. How could this be the same girl that Holly had told him about? How could she possibly have anything to do with these women?
Another boom rattled the farmhouse. He didn’t turn to look. He didn’t dare take his eyes off this woman. And he wouldn’t be able to see anything in all this smoke anyway.
She took a step toward him. “Now it’s your turn. What are you doing here? Why are you haunting my dreams? Who are you?”
Both ogres took a step toward him, too. He didn’t like his odds. It was quickly becoming clear that the only reason he was still alive was because of these dreams she kept mentioning. If he couldn’t give her the answers she wanted, she wouldn’t bother keeping him around. But he knew nothing about her dreams…
He had to think.
According to Holly, Sylvia’s dreams were often garbled premonitions. If Sissy’s dreams were the same, then maybe she’d foreseen that Delphinium would summon him. Maybe she’d even foreseen the possibility of him defeating her. And if those dreams weren’t clear to her, she might have only understood that he was someone she should fear. That would explain the fear in her eyes when they first saw each other in the strip club. It also explained why she wouldn’t confront him at the Wordsley House or Clodsend. It even explained why she sent the
messenger to bargain with him. She wouldn’t have dared to take him on until she was fully prepared to face him.
If she figured out that there was nothing special about him…
It was definitely in his best interest to play along.
“Answer me!” she demanded.
Trying to sound a lot more confident than he was, Eric replied, “I’m the guy who’s going to protect the people in that house from you.”
“Oh, really?” She smiled at him, as if she knew he was lying, but he saw a tenseness in her face. Her eyes gave her away. She was still afraid of him.
“Really,” he said, willing his voice to remain even. “What did you see in your dream? What did I do that scared you so much?”
The smile wilted away. “I’m not afraid of you.”
“Of course not. What was I thinking?”
She glared at him. Above them, thunder rolled. Inside the farmhouse, more gunfire broke out.
“What did you see?” he pressed.
“Just your face.”
“Is that all?”
She clenched her teeth. Clearly there was more to her dreams than just his face, but he could already tell she wasn’t going to tell him. It frightened her too much. She’d never speak of it.
The idea that a dream about him had frightened someone like her was almost more terrifying than she was.
He willed himself to give her his best poker face. “Fine,” he said, as if he didn’t need to know. “Then just tell me why you’re so determined to hurt Delphinium. What did she ever do to you? Besides save your life?”
“She didn’t save my life. She ruined it.”
This caught Eric off guard. He blinked, confused. “What?”
“I had everything under control until she came along.”
“You were homeless.”
“I was fine! I took care of Sylvia! I was what kept her alive all those years. I was the one who looked after her. I’m the reason she’s alive today. But then Del showed up and suddenly she didn’t need me anymore. I had to go away.”
“Go away?” She meant withdraw. She faded back into the depths of Sylvia’s mind. “They couldn’t see you,” Eric realized. “Sylvia didn’t know about you, so Delphinium and Desmond couldn’t sense you. They had no idea what kind of monster they were living with all that time.”
