The Sea Witch's Redemption

by S. E. Smith

  “It terrified the hell out of me,” he admitted, shifting the truck into reverse and pulling out of the parking space.

  “Exactly,” she replied, clasping her hands in her lap.

  She drew in a deep breath as he drove through town. She stared out of the window, checking the mirror for the dark blue sedan that was following them. This was another wrong that she could right. Each one helped her feel a small measure of redemption.

  “How much are you going to tell her?” he finally asked as he turned onto the road leading to his house.

  “Everything. She deserves to know the truth,” she said quietly.

  Gabe reached over and grasped her hand again. “Then what?” he muttered.

  “Then... I will give her a shell,” Magna whispered.

  Ruth Hallbrook bit her lip as she followed the truck in front of her. She couldn’t decide if she was crazy or suicidal. Still, if there was the remotest chance of finding her brother, she’d take the risk. Glancing down, she fumbled for the card the FBI Agent had given her this morning.

  She would have thought between the FBI and the CIA, someone would have found Mike by now! The state police sure weren’t going to. They said that since Mike had called and left her a message saying he had voluntarily left, there was nothing they could do. She had told them exactly what they could do. Of course, she’d come close to going to jail for that little conversation.

  Pressing the dial button on her phone, she tapped out the number while trying to keep her eyes on the road. Hell, if something happened to her, well, she wanted at least one person to give a damn! She lifted the phone to her ear when it began to ring.

  “Maitland.”

  “Hello, Agent Maitland, this is Ruth Hallbrook,” Ruth said, turning on the turn signal. She glanced both ways before turning left. “You said I should call you if I found out anything else about my brother, Mike Hallbrook.”

  “Yes, thank you for calling. Can you tell me what you’ve discovered?” Tonya asked.

  “I’m not exactly sure yet. I was hanging up new reward posters down at the hardware store and I met a woman there who said she knew him and where he is. I’m on my way to her house to talk with her,” Ruth said.

  “Ms. Hallbrook, I don’t think that is a good idea. Can you tell me the name of the woman and where she—?” Tonya was saying as Ruth accelerated up the winding road.

  “Hello? Agent Maitland? Hell…o? Can you hear me?” Ruth asked. She glanced at her phone. No Service. “Damn it! You’d think by now the phone company would be able to have cell reception in even the most remote places. I knew I should have switched services when it was time to renew.”

  She had two choices: keep following the only lead she had to finding her brother, or tuck tail and run. Since she didn’t even know the meaning of the latter, she tossed her cellphone onto the seat next to her. She could always call when she got back to Mike’s house – if she made it back there.

  She began to feel a little better about her decision by the time she pulled up outside the house. There was another SUV parked out front and a man in a jacket standing outside of it, waiting for the couple. Ruth raised her eyebrows when the man walked over to the passenger side of the truck, helped the woman out of it, and placed a passionate kiss on her lips. She could have sworn the woman was with the man named Gabe.

  She swallowed as she slowed to a stop and turned off the ignition. The woman was surrounded by both men now and they each looked like they were very possessive of her.

  To each their own, Ruth thought with a soft whistle.

  Personally, she had bombed at handling one man, and her ex-husband had been the epitome of a wuss! Pushing open the driver’s door, she cursed when she realized that she had forgotten to unbuckle her seatbelt. Clicking the release, she slid out and stood up just as the man named Gabe walked over. For a moment, she wondered if she had made a mistake. There was definitely something intimidating about him. Both of the men, actually.

  “I’ll tell you this now, I won’t let you hurt Magna,” he warned in a soft voice. “She has been through hell and back.”

  Ruth blinked in surprise. This was not at all what she had been expecting. Raising an eyebrow, she looked back at him with a steady gaze.

  “All I want to do is find my brother. If she helps me do that, I’ll have my lips superglued before I hurt her,” Ruth swore.

  Gabe released an unexpected chuckle. “That damn stuff works really well,” he warned, surprising her again.

  She nodded and smiled in return, relaxing a little at his teasing. “I’d much rather use glue than get stitches any day,” she remarked.

  “Oh God! You mean there are two of you in the world?” the other man groaned with a shake of his head.

  Ruth looked at Gabe with a raised eyebrow. If she wasn’t careful, her face was gonna get stuck this way, but what the hell, the surprises kept on coming.

  “He’s a doctor,” Gabe mumbled.

  “That figures,” Ruth chuckled.

  “Please come in,” Magna said, turning and heading inside. “Oh, I have to warn you that we have two—”

  “Damn it, Wilson! Will you get out of the way? Buck, you’d better not be learning any bad habits,” Gabe warned.

  “Ah, the sweet sound of pet ownership. I gave Mike a golden retriever for his birthday several months ago,” Ruth commented with a knowing grin before her smile faded.

  “Wilson is still young,” Magna laughed.

  “My name is Kane Field. Would you care for something to drink, Miss…? “

  “Ruth Hallbrook.”

  He smiled. “We have coffee, tea, juice, and beer.”

  “Coffee would be great,” Ruth replied, stepping into the kitchen. “You have a beautiful home.”

  “Thank you,” Magna said, smiling giddily because it really was home – the three of them had a home together. “Please, come into the living room. I love being able to see the ocean from it,” Magna encouraged.

  Ruth took off her coat and handed it to Gabe when he held his hand out. She followed Magna into the other room. The entire house screamed peace and unity.

  Gabe followed them in and started the gas fireplace. Ruth stood by large glass doors and looked out over the treetops to the ocean. She turned when Kane returned with a tray, a pot of coffee, and small dishes that she suspected contained cream and sugar. In addition to the coffee, there was a large glass of water.

  She watched Kane set the tray down, wondering what she would learn here today. Gabe immediately picked up the glass of water and handed it to Magna. She walked over to the chair across from the couch and sat down as Kane poured her a cup of coffee.

  “Cream and sugar?” he asked.

  Ruth released a pretend shudder. “Black, please. I hate ruining a perfectly good cup of coffee by putting anything in it,” she joked, taking the cup from him.

  Amusement danced in her eyes when Kane sat down on one side of Magna while Gabe sat on the other. Both men had an air of being on edge while Magna appeared calm and relaxed. Ruth drank several sips of her coffee before she looked at Magna.

  “Where is my brother?” she asked.

  Magna returned her steady gaze with one of her own. “He is in my world,” she replied.

  “Your…. Where is that?” Ruth asked, leaning forward and placing her cup on the tray before she sat back.

  “Perhaps I should start at the beginning,” Magna said, opening her hand and holding out a necklace with a beautiful green shell in the center of her palm. “Take the necklace and turn it over. I will be there with you.”

  “You’ll be where with me?” Ruth asked, leaning forward and taking the necklace.

  She turned the shell over, admiring it. Her eyes widened when she saw the glowing center. Looking up to ask Magna about it, her voice froze on a soft croak. The living room was gone.

  Looking down, she saw that her booted feet were in sand. She turned in a slow circle, trying to understand what in the hell had happened and where in
the hell she was. Her eyes scanned the area. Thick palms, along with other glowing plants she had never seen before, created a thick forest on one side of her. To her right, the beach wound down along a rocky coast. To her left, tall cliffs rose out of the ocean. In front of her, the lone figure of a woman stood by the water, staring out at it.

  Unsure of what to do, she walked across the sand to the edge of the water, and stood slightly behind Magna. Neither one of them spoke. Ruth’s gaze was on the creatures playing in the cove.

  “That is my cousin, Orion, with the sea dragons,” Magna said, turning to look at her. “My name is Magna. I am the Sea Witch. My mother is from the Isle of Magic, one of seven kingdoms in the realm of the Seven Kingdoms. My father is from the Isle of the Sea Serpent. He is what you would call a merman. My home was both above and below the water.”

  “We… Are you saying we aren’t on Earth anymore?” Ruth asked in a hesitant voice.

  Magna lifted her hand and waved it through the air. “Our bodies are still in the living room of Gabe’s house, but our minds are in one of my memories of the Isle of the Sea Serpent. I stored this memory before my body was inhabited by an alien creature that threatened to destroy my world,” she explained.

  Orion and the sea dragons suddenly faded away, and Ruth turned when she heard the sound of laughter. She watched a much younger version of Magna running down the beach toward them. Orion followed, laughing and teasing her.

  Ruth turned when she saw a flash of light streak across the sky. Her eyes widened when it hit the water with a tremendous splash. Turning her gaze back to Magna, she saw the sadness in the other woman’s eyes.

  “A creature was within that meteor. It took over my body, most of my mind, and my magic. It forced me to do horrible things to my people.” The anguish vibrating Magna’s voice was starkly moving. “I fought him as best I could, but I knew I would need help if I were to destroy him,” Magna murmured, staring at the frozen scene before them.

  “What did you do?” Ruth asked.

  Magna lifted a hand to her cheek. Ruth blinked when the hand passed through her face. Magna didn’t appear to realize it. She continued with her story.

  “I was finally able to create a spell to destroy it, but in order for it to work, I needed a weapon not of our world that could weaken me. I tried for over a century to end my life, but each time, the creature prevented it. He had learned from my memories how to defend himself against all the weapons of our world,” she said in a weary voice.

  “That is why you needed Mike,” Ruth deduced.

  Magna nodded. “I was growing too weak to bind the creature to me for much longer. He was hungry for power and would have moved to a different host, perhaps one more powerful than I. Over time, I set in motion a series of events. I needed Drago, the Dragon King, to wake. Only his fire, fueled by the heat of vengeance and grief, could burn through the tentacles of the alien. I also needed the power of my cousin’s trident to create an electrical field that would stop the alien from communicating with the nightmarish creatures it had created. And finally, ... I needed the weapon your brother carried, the one that fired the metal ball, to strike me so that the alien would think I was dying,” she said, reaching up to touch her left shoulder.

  Ruth blinked in surprise. “Are you telling me that my brother shot you?” she asked incredulously.

  Magna nodded. “Yes. It was the only way. The creature would have forced me to kill King Oray. With Drago and Orion attacking it in the throne room, and the other rulers and their armies attacking it from the outside, the alien no longer saw me as the most serious threat. I told your brother to save King Oray and escape with the others while I released a spell strong enough to destroy the evil creature. Anyone remaining in the room would have been killed,” she said.

  “But… if the others escaped and you didn’t, wouldn’t you have been killed along with the creature?” Ruth asked in confusion, looking out at the huge splash.

  “I was supposed to die…. I wanted to die. My death….” Magna stopped and shook her head before she lifted her hand and waved it. “Instead, I woke here,” she softly replied.

  Ruth gasped when she saw the living room of Gabe’s house reappear around them. She blinked several times and gripped the arms of the chair. She looked at where Magna leaned against Kane.

  “But, what about my brother? I know he came back. He left me a partial message. The damn voicemail cut off too soon,” Ruth said.

  Magna lifted her head. “He is in my world. He was with a young witch from the Isle of Magic. She had a family. I suspect he returned to the Seven Kingdoms because she could not come here,” she murmured.

  Ruth was silent as she absorbed everything she had just learned. Rising to her feet, she stepped back over to the doors. It was another beautiful day. Drawing in a deep breath, she finally turned and looked at Magna with a fierce expression.

  “How do I get to this ‘Seven Kingdoms’ place?” Ruth asked.

  Magna looked back at her. She rose to her feet and stepped around the coffee table. Ruth swallowed when Magna stopped in front of her and looked into her eyes with a serious expression.

  “Open your hand,” Magna requested.

  Ruth held out her hand and opened it. Magna waved her hand over Ruth’s palm, and a red shell the size of a large coin, appeared in the middle of it.

  “When you are ready to leave, go to the beach where your brother disappeared and make a wish. The shell will guide you. Keep the shell close to you. If you ever wish to return here, you will need it,” Magna warned.

  Ruth nodded. “I… I can’t tell you how strange this all sounds, but if it means finding my brother….” She shook her head and looked down at the red shell in her hand. “Thank you,” she murmured, her fingers closing around the shell.

  “I hope you find what you are looking for,” Magna said.

  Ruth could feel the smile growing on her face. She laughed. Looking at Magna, then at the two men who were now standing and silently watching the exchange, she couldn’t help but be thankful that she hadn’t given up.

  “Thank you so much,” she repeated, knowing that she would find her brother and kick his ass for not taking her with him.

  Chapter Twenty

  Several weeks later, Kane stepped down onto the dock as Gabe’s trawler rounded the bend. Shoving his hands in his pockets, he waited until the boat idled up to the dock. Magna threw the dock line at him, and he caught it automatically. A smile curved his lips. She was becoming a pro at being a deckhand.

  “What’s wrong?” Gabe demanded, stepping out of the wheelhouse.

  Kane could feel Gabe’s sharp gaze on his face. He must be losing his touch at keeping his thoughts hidden, he thought. Of course, the fact that he was home early could have also been a clue.

  “The whole town is crawling with police and the media,” he responded, bending and tying off the lines.

  “Why?” Magna worriedly asked, pushing a swathe of long hair back from her face.

  “It seems there have been two more disappearances to add to the growing list,” Kane replied.

  Magna grimaced. “This was not what I expected to happen when I opened the first portal,” she said with a sigh.

  “Don’t worry about it. They’ll leave when the next big story breaks. We just have to trust that Ruth didn’t tell anyone anything,” Gabe reassured her, wrapping his arm around her waist.

  “She promised that she wouldn’t. I believe her,” Magna said, looking up at him.

  Kane reached up and touched her cheek. She turned her head, and he brushed a kiss across her lips.

  “We’ll keep a low profile for a little while. I hear a lot of what is going on around town. The nurses and patients are loving the excitement. So are the merchants. Fred down at the hardware store is getting his fifteen minutes of fame and his wife is happy because business is booming,” he said.

  Magna’s lips drooped. “Does this mean we will not be able to go out tonight?” she asked.


  “Yes,” Gabe stated.

  “No,” Kane replied at the same time. “We need to keep a low profile, not a non-existent one. The locals know we go to the pub every Friday night. If we don’t show up, they’ll think we’ve disappeared as well.”

  “Then, you go. Magna and I can stay here. I’m sure we can find something to do,” Gabe retorted with a grin.

  “Like hell,” Kane grumbled. “You get to be with her all day. You can go to the pub and I’ll stay here and keep Magna entertained.”

  Magna shot him and Gabe an exasperated look. “Is sex the only thing you two ever think about?” she growled.

  Kane laughed. “The answer to that question is still yes – Yes, we only think of sex when we are around you,” Kane replied with a wry grin.

  He released a soft groan and he knew he and Gabe were doomed when she lowered her head and her bottom lip stuck out a tiny bit. What was bad about the pouty, disappointed expression was that he knew Magna was completely unaware of it and the effect her disappointment was having on both of them. Friday nights had become their unofficial date nights. She loved it when they took her out to wine and dine her.

  “As long as she uses the glamour spell, no one will know,” Gabe reluctantly conceded, pressing a kiss to her hair.

  Kane nodded. “People would wonder. Someone from the media is bound to be there and Dorothy might mention that we were missing. That would cause more suspicion than us showing up,” he added.

  Magna’s head lifted and she looked at them with a growing expression of hope. The glimmer of excitement made Kane want to bury his hands in her hair along with his body.

  “Does this mean we are going on our date?” she asked.

  Gabe chuckled and playfully smacked her on the rear. “Yes. I need to secure the boat. Why don’t you and Kane go up to the house and get cleaned up? It won’t take me long,” he suggested.

  Magna bit her lip and tilted her head. Kane loved the way her eyes darkened. He could feel his body tighten as she ran her eyes over his face and down his body. A pleased growl swept through his mind when her eyes lingered on the front of his pants. She had to know exactly what she was doing to him.