12 Stocking Stuffers

by Beverly Barton

  “I see. And inverted, like it is here? Does that have any significance?”

  She sighed. “The Satanists have adopted it, made it so well-known that Wiccans in the U.S. rarely use it anymore. But to us it represents the journey of the Second Degree. For most Wiccans it’s a time of….”

  The old woman remained there, silver brows raised, waiting for her to finish.

  “Tests and trials. Challenges and obstacles.”

  “Tests and trials? Really?” Helen asked. Though Dori got the feeling she wasn’t the least bit surprised. “Well, isn’t that interesting?”

  Dori sighed. “Don’t read anything into it. I got through my Second Degree long, long ago. I’m way beyond it now.”

  “That’s right, isn’t it? The newspaper called you an elder.” She shrugged. “Then again, I guess the learning and growing never really stop, do they? Why, in any faith the initiations are an endless cycle. Don’t you think?”

  Dori sent her a swift frown.

  “Why don’t you run into BK’s Grocery and see if she has some nail-polish remover?”

  “Nail polish?” Dori looked again at the paint on her windshield, ran a finger over it, and finally bent closer and sniffed, realizing it wasn’t paint after all. “It is nail polish, isn’t it?” she asked, turning again to the old woman.

  But Helen was gone.

  Dori walked to BK’s, located the nail-polish remover and took it to the front to pay. There was only one register open, which was usual on a weeknight. She waited in line behind a woman she didn’t at first recognize, and when she did, she instantly bristled.

  The dark-haired woman had started all this by refusing to process Dori’s application for a table at the craft fair.

  “Hello there, Mrs. Redmond,” she said, feeling decidedly evil. Oh, deep down she knew a respectable woman like her probably hadn’t vandalized her car. But for the moment, she would do.

  The woman snapped her head around and her eyes widened. “Uh…hello.”

  Mrs. Redmond opened her checkbook to make out the check.

  Dori peeked over her shoulder, read her full name. Alice W. Redmond. The woman scribbled quickly and paused at the date space, then shot a look at the brunette behind the register, whose name tag read Katie. “What’s the date?”

  “Twenty-first,” Katie replied. She shifted her glance between the two of them with confused amusement. And no wonder. Alice Redmond was in such a hurry to get out of the store you’d have thought she was afraid Dori was going to pull out a wand and transform her into a toad at any moment.

  Katie sent Dori a wink. “Happy Solstice.”

  The Winter Solstice. She hadn’t even realized it was tonight. “Thanks. You know, I’d almost decided to give up practicing Witchcraft. I have Alice here to thank for changing my mind.”

  “Really?” Katie appeared stunned.

  Dori said, “Nah.”

  Katie laughed. Alice Redmond tore her check out of the book and slapped it down on the counter. The cashier was still grinning when she dropped it into the register and handed back a receipt. Alice snatched up her bags and walked out of the store without another word.

  Dori set her bottles of nail-polish remover on the counter and pulled a wad of tips from her handbag.

  “What’s this about?” the woman asked, holding up a bottle.

  “Someone decided my car would be nicer with a splash of blood-red nail polish.”

  Katie went still, all traces of humor evaporating. “Because of the article?”

  “I can only assume so.”

  “Well, I’ll be…that’s not like Crescent Cove, Dori. Not at all.” She shook her head. “I wish I’d known sooner that you were into…that Witch stuff.”

  “Why?”

  “Well, my daughter’s been poking around it. She’s got a couple of books in her room, has a little stand set up with candles and such.” She shrugged. “I’d like to talk to her about it, but I don’t have a clue, you know? And she’s at that touchy age.”

  “Sixteen?”

  “Almost.” She accepted Dori’s cash and started counting out change.

  “Do you get a lunch break here?” Dori asked.

  “Sure, half hour right at noon.”

  “Why don’t you come over to the diner tomorrow. I’ll take my break at the same time and you can pick my brain all you want.”

  “Really? That would be great, Dori.” Then she smiled. “You’re just what you’ve always seemed like, aren’t you?”

  “What’s that?”

  “An ordinary person. And a nice one, too.” She dropped the bottles into a bag and handed it to Dori. “You have a nice night, Dori.”

  “You, too, Katie.”

  Sighing, Dori went outside. She took a deep breath of the crisp cold air and gazed up at the darkening sky. Solstice Night.

  The timing was no accident, was it? How many times had she noticed how she never had any darkness to work through over the winter months? Well, this year, she did. And it was time to get to work doing it. It was time for her to come back home—to stop fighting and start accepting. To stop working for change and start trying to see the lesson in what was.

  She walked to her car, and spent the next half hour wiping away the nail polish. It washed off more easily than she would have expected. Then she went home and began packing a picnic basket full of ritual supplies. Tonight she would observe the solstice outside, at midnight, under the stars. No matter how cold it might get, she was determined to do this up right.

  Tonight she intended to bid her darkness farewell, and welcome the return of the light, no matter what it might bring.

  MIDNIGHT. Who the hell could be calling at midnight?

  Jason rolled over in bed and reached blindly for the phone. Vaguely he heard the moan of the wind. Not too promising, that sound. Familiar, though. They’d already had the first killer storm of the season—just a couple of weeks ago. It was too soon for another.

  Right. And he’d lived here long enough to know better. That wind might be a passing front, but he doubted it. It sounded like it meant business.

  He pulled the telephone to his ear. “Yeah?”

  “Jason, thank God. My son is gone. I’m afraid he’s—”

  “Hold on, slow down.” He reached out and snapped on the light. “Who is this?”

  “Alice Redmond! It’s Kevin—he sneaked out with those boys.”

  A chill rippled through his core and he heard the wind all over again. “Do you think they’ve gone out on the lake again, Alice?”

  “I do-on’t kno-ow.” The words emerged as sobs.

  Then a man must have taken the phone from her hands, because his voice came on the line. “Chief? It’s Paul Redmond.”

  “I’m here.”

  The voice grew muffled. “Go finish getting dressed, hon,” he said. There was a pause before he came back on the line. “All right. Chief, the boy has been out on that lake at least twice before. I lectured him, I grounded him, but if he sneaked out tonight, I can’t imagine another reason for it. Seems to me it’s the new big thrill for him and his friends.”

  “I’m on it, Paul. Listen, meet me at the rec center, down on the shore. We’ll coordinate from there. I’ll call Phil…get him to open it up.”

  “All right. I’ve already driven all over town, Jason. I’m worried.”

  “We’ll find him,” Jason said, and even as he hung up the phone, he thought of one person. He thought of Dori.

  Not just because she had a knack for finding missing people, either. But because…hell, this was the biggest crisis he’d faced as police chief. And he wanted her by his side, no matter how little sense that might make.

  He punched in her number, then cradled the phone between his head and shoulder while pulling on his clothes.

  But Dori’s phone rang and rang. He frowned, worried about her now, as well. Where the hell could she be at midnight with a storm brewing?

  Chapter Seven

  Dori had chosen just t
he right spot. A spot where the rocks formed a natural, three-sided barrier, halfway between her uncle’s place and the rec center farther down the beach. She knew this spot. Knew it well.

  It was where she and Jason had shared that special night so long ago. And maybe that was part of the reason she’d chosen it tonight.

  She’d set up her altar—a large flat-topped boulder—with care, but she hadn’t got overly fancy. This wasn’t about props. She didn’t need incense to represent Air, because she had the wind. It blew sharp and cold, but she’d bundled up. It would be fine. She didn’t need a cup to hold Water, because she had the lake right in front of her, choppy with whitecaps. She didn’t need salt to represent Earth, because she was surrounded by the boulders and rocks that were Earth itself. She didn’t need a representation of the Goddess, because the moon, a waxing, lopsided gibbous moon, was up and bright in the sky, despite the dark clouds around it, gathering ever closer.

  Fire—all she needed was Fire. And she had brought her special candle. The one the Crone-like Helen had given her, the one she’d said was imbued with a little magic.

  Dori piled a few stones around the base of the candleholder to keep any wind from tipping it over. She lit the candle, and the glass globe kept it from blowing out. Then she sat quietly to meditate before it. She thought about this past year, all the things she had lost. And she thought about the things Helen had said to her. The inverted pentacle glowed before her mind’s eye. Spirit at the bottom, moving through the Underworld. She saw herself, making her way through a dark, shadowy place. She heard the old tales she had so often recited to rapt audiences standing in sacred circles—the tale of the Goddess’s descent into the Underworld, and how She was stopped at each of the seven gates and made to surrender one of Her prized possessions at each one. Her jewels, Her robes, Her crown—until there was nothing left.

  And for the first time, Dori realized that was exactly what her own journey had been like. She had lost everything she thought was of value. Until she was left with—with just what Inanna had been left with in the legend. She was left with nothing but Her own true self. And that was all She had needed to emerge, triumphant, from the darkness.

  For a long time, Dori sat there on the ground and worked through all those things in her mind.

  The wind gusted harder. Dori opened her eyes. Her magic candle had blown out, despite the protective glass. A deeper darkness had settled over the night. The black clouds that had been threatening blotted out the moon. In fact, the only light seemed to be coming from the rec center farther along the beach. The wind swept in from the lake, hitting her square in the face. “Damn, I so wanted to continue that meditation,” she muttered. “Maybe find out who my own true self really is.”

  Headlights caught her attention, bouncing in her direction from the rec center. What was going on over there? There were several cars visible in the light that spilled from the building’s windows. Some of them were police cars.

  She tucked her special candle and her lighter into her bag, left an offering of birdseed, then stepped out of her shelter of rocks, hugging her coat more tightly around her, and hurried toward the center. The approaching vehicle’s headlights hit her, blinded her, and then the vehicle pulled up beside her.

  The passenger door opened, and when it did, the interior light came on and she saw Jason behind the wheel. “Get in,” he called. “We have a situation.”

  She got into the car without pause and yanked the door shut. Jason immediately turned the car around and took it bouncing back over the rocky beach. “What’s going on?” she asked.

  “Those damn kids have vanished again. There’s a boat missing from the launch down the beach, and a hell of a storm is rolling in.”

  She closed her eyes. “Oh, no.”

  “I was on my way to get you. Been trying to call, but—”

  “I was outside.”

  He peered at her as if she were insane.

  “It’s the solstice,” she said.

  His face cleared. “You went to our cove, didn’t you?”

  She nodded.

  “Oh, Dori there’s so much…” Then he stopped himself and gave his head a shake. “But it has to wait. The boys first. And if it being solstice means it’s a good night for calling down magic, put in for some, would you?”

  He stopped outside the rec center, a very large, perfectly square, metal building the town used for bingo, auctions, town dances and anything else that came up. It was probably where they would hold their precious Holiday Craft Fair.

  Right now, it held people. The entire police force—which consisted of about six cops—and half the town. Maybe more than half. Up close she could see dozens of vehicles parked around the building. They’d been out of her view before as the parking lot was dark and on the far side of the building.

  “What are all these people doing?”

  “Praying, mostly,” he said. “That storm’s gonna hit and hit hard, Dori.” He started to get out of the car.

  She stopped him with a hand to his arm. “Jason…why did you come for me?”

  “The first thing I thought of was to call you.” He searched her eyes. “Hell, the first thing I think of when I wake up is you these days. And the last thing before I go to sleep.”

  “Jason—”

  “Don’t,” he said. “Let’s not do this. Not now, Dori. I need you to help me with this. Help me find those boys.”

  She nodded, opened her door and got out of the car. They went into the rec center together, and Dori took in the scene with a swift glance. Women huddled with their husbands, people weeping, people pacing. Cops and others hunched over a table spread with maps and charts. One was talking on a cell phone; another manned a portable radio.

  “We have the state police out in boats,” Jason explained. “It’s too windy for helicopters.” He glanced at his officer on the radio. “Anything yet?”

  “No sign.”

  A huge gust hit, and suddenly, the room full of people was pitched into total darkness. One woman cried out.

  “Stay calm,” Jason called. “If anyone brought a light, get it out now.”

  Dori thought of the candle in her bag. If ever she had needed its magic, she thought, she needed it now. She took it out, flicked her lighter, touched it to the wick.

  Its golden light gleamed.

  “You!” a woman said.

  One by one other lights came on. Someone lit a gas lantern, which spilled a lot more light on things. Someone else offered to go get a generator.

  But Dori was focused on Alice Redmond making a bee-line for her. She was about to roll her eyes and tell the woman that this was not the time, but then she noticed the redness of the woman’s cheeks and the hollow emptiness in her eyes. She’d seen a look like that before.

  “Oh, my Goddess,” Dori whispered. “One of the missing boys is yours, isn’t he?”

  The woman stopped moving when she couldn’t get any closer without mowing Dori down. She stood nearly nose to nose with her, only the dancing light of the candle in between them. “Kevin. He’s seventeen.”

  “I’m so sorry, Alice. I mean it.”

  “Do you?”

  Others were starting to turn toward the two of them now. More lanterns were lit, more candles, and several flashlights. Alice’s voice was agitated and overly loud.

  “Of course I mean it,” Dori said. “I wouldn’t wish this on anyone.”

  “Then help him.”

  Dori blinked. The room went dead silent.

  A man who was probably her husband laid a hand on her arm.

  “You’ve done it before,” she went on, not even acknowledging her husband’s touch. “If you can really do what they say you can do, then do it. Help me find my son. I just want him back. Please…”

  The woman was sinking to the floor at Dori’s feet, weeping, and her husband caught her in his arms. “Of course I’ll do whatever I can,” she said, bending down, helping the man bring his wife to her feet again. She handed her p
recious candle to the nearest person and then smoothed her hands over the woman’s back. “I promise, Alice, I’ll try my hardest.”

  She didn’t know if the poor woman was listening or not. She didn’t care. She turned and found Jason without having to search for him. She said, “I need to get out on the lake. I need some men to help me launch my uncle’s boat.”

  “Dammit, Dori, you can’t go out there,” Jason said. “Work from here. Wave a pendulum over the charts and tell us where to send the state patrol boats. But don’t go out on the lake.”

  She moved closer to him, clasped his hands in hers. “I think I have to. Don’t you get it, Jason? Maybe this is why I had to come back here. To save this kid. And even if it’s not, I’m going to try, no matter how much time you waste arguing with me.”

  He swallowed hard, holding her eyes. “Then I’m damn well going with you.”

  HE COULD NOT BELIEVE he had let her come out on the boat in this weather. The waves battered the small craft mercilessly, and he was at the controls, following her directions. The boat had no cabin. A large glass windshield was all that stood between them and the biting wind.

  “Where did you say they started from?” she asked. She was sitting in a vinyl seat beside him.

  “The boat launch, a mile down the beach.”

  “Then go west.”

  “That’s the opposite direction!”

  “There’s a strong current. It would have pulled them west. Especially if they’ve been out here any length of time.”

  He searched her face. Pale cheeks in the glow of the panel lights. Wide, intense eyes.

  “Trust me, Jason.”

  “I do.” He headed the boat in the direction she told him. “But I have to ask, what are you basing this on?” he asked. “Instinct or…”

  “Experience.”

  “With missing kids?”

  “No. With the lake. I know every inch of it, Jason. I’ve spent every summer out here since I was twelve, right at Uncle Gerald’s side. Studying his maps, charts, the currents, all the topography of the lake bottom. He took this Champ stuff seriously. And he taught me everything he knew.”