Seriously Hexed

by Tina Connolly

  “Sure, and then we’ll let chickens vote on whether to be eaten,” said Sports Team.

  I looked again at the clock. My doom was creeping ever closer and I had to get this done by midnight. “Discussion over,” I said. “It’s going to a vote. All in favor of allowing Sentient Magicals to join a coven?”

  My light lit green. So did Sparkle’s, Pink’s, and Poppy’s. It would be four to three, and nothing they did would matter. Sports Team threw another chair.

  “They’d have to join under normal rules?” said Boring Skirt. “Overthrow someone, or be appointed by a majority?”

  “Of course.”

  She shrugged, and her light lit up green. I was surprised to see her on our side at all, but witches are nothing if not unpredictable. She must have decided it was more amusing to watch the expressions of indignation on Sports Team’s and Leggings’s faces.

  The cauldron spit up a green glow. “Motion carries,” I said. I glanced out the garage window. By the coven rules, the other witches still had a chance to show. As long as the coven was not completed. Nominations could happen, but they might not be binding if the original witch showed up.

  I hoped Sarmine would forgive me, but I needed to play it safe, and there were two witches I thought were definitely not going to show tonight. Sarmine could sort out her position in the coven later. “On to the next item, then. I nominate Leo Crawford to fill the empty place of Sarmine Scarabouche.”

  “Seconded,” said Sparkle.

  “Now, wait a minute,” said Boring Skirt. But it was too late—it had been too late from the moment Pink and Poppy got those proxies.

  Leo turned from a mouse in the corner to a large, naked boy—I wished he would stop doing that—and Sparkle threw a robe on him.

  “Floor open,” I said, but they were stunned. “Floor closed. All in favor?”

  Four green lights to three red. Leo was in.

  “And finally, I nominate Samuel Quatch to fill the place of Rimelda Danela.”

  He threw aside his bedsheet and walked to Rimelda’s spot. Five green lights to three red. Bigfoot was in.

  We were winning. We were driving them back. We were six to three now—nearly a majority. Eleven forty on the clock. Keep going, Cam. My heart beat faster. “And finally, I move to give full protection to Sentient Magicals—”

  The room erupted, or at least the three middle-aged witches did. “Now, wait a minute—See here—”

  It didn’t matter how much they fussed. There were more of us. I just had to get through this.

  “You can do it, Cam,” Poppy whispered next to me, and I kept going.

  “Full protection,” I shouted over the uproar, “to Sentient Magicals, including that—”

  “Cam,” said Sparkle. “Cam!”

  The door flew open, and in stalked the three worst witches.

  Ingrid’s hair was half crisped off, but she was here. She moved to her place, her dog at her side. Unicorn Guy limped behind her, on crutches, his ankle in an ACE bandage and a sneering look of triumph on his face. Claudette was wearing gloves now. I assumed that, like Sparkle, she had found out what it was like to lose a fingernail—probably twenty, in her case. Certainly there was no snapping her way around the garage. She walked to her place, gloved hands sneaking into her purse to rest her fingertips against a blue cold pack. Suddenly we were nearly at a full coven again. Six of them. Six of us. We could no longer carry the vote.

  Leggings looked like the cat who had caught the canary. “Say that again,” she purred, “about the protection of Sentient Magicals.”

  The newcomers swiveled to look at me. My mouth was dry. “I move to uh … to uh…”

  Next to me, Poppy’s voice cut cleanly through the garage. “To grant full protection to Sentient Magicals; that the sale of nonvital items such as hair and scales shall be strongly regulated; that the sale of vital items such as bones shall be completely prohibited, and their possession punishable by dewanding.”

  “I open the floor,” I said weakly.

  “I will never pass that,” spat out Claudette. “Jamais!”

  “Child, do you understand how vital Bigfoot claws are to teleporting?” said Boring Skirt, more kindly. “You’d never make that stick.”

  “As I understand it, any coven law is enforceable by any witch within the coven’s area,” said Poppy. “You are all deputized to go forth and rat out your fellow witches. Further, covens will frequently form a brute squad to go forth and—well. Enforce some things more forcibly.”

  “And once an idea starts, an idea can spread,” rumbled Sam. “It can make a difference.”

  “Naive children,” scoffed Sports Team.

  “You’ve got children of your own,” Sparkle shot back. “What kind of world do you want to leave them? One where you hunted the shifters to death?”

  “Where you mutilated the Bigfoots?” said Sam.

  “Don’t forget the werewolf puppy kennels,” said Leo.

  “But you don’t understand,” said Leggings. “This is the way things have always been.”

  “And the way they’re going to continue to be,” Ingrid said sharply. She raised her arms dramatically to the room. “Yes, I’ve been spearheading a long-forgotten plan of Malkin’s this week. Frankly, I thought it would never come to fruition. I’d forgotten about it. But Malkin once called a demon named Hudzeth and set him to a near-impossible task: to be able to always and instantly call up the location of every Sentient Magical in the world. The demon has completed this task, and now, due to an excellent contract of Malkin’s, he will live in that lamp and share that information with us forever.”

  Way back in the corner, I saw Devon start. Oh, Malkin had been clever all right. She never played anyone fair if she could help it. She would love to see Hudzeth feel this extra twist of the knife from beyond the grave.

  “Bigfoot claws are vital for teleportation,” Ingrid continued. “Mermaid fins are one of the most potent items used for spells to contain dangerous creatures. I use them all the time just to leash my werewolves,” and here she stroked her dog’s head in a significant fashion that nearly made me retch. “And we all know about the many uses of shifters.” Her gaze swung to pinion Leo, who swallowed, but held his ground.

  “That’s not playing fair, Ingrid,” put in Sports Team.

  “You shouldn’t have risked yourself, child,” Boring Skirt said to Leo.

  “I am merely being logical,” said Ingrid. “If we don’t make use of this information, then someone else will. My werewolves are well treated. Ulrich will care for the mermaids. Claudette has allowed the Bigfoots all kinds of freedom. Much of this will continue. But I will not let sentiment stand in the way of protecting ourselves and our country. It has always been a race to get to any discovered Sentient Magicals first. And now I simply intend to win that race, for all of us. The Cascadia Coven will be the most powerful in the world.”

  Ingrid swung her head around to glare pointedly at Poppy, at Pink, at me. “And if you don’t like it,” she said, slowly and coldly, “then I have a willing demon who will drop you in a nice, contained oubliette of fire … forever.”

  There was silence in that garage. Pink was trying hard not to cry, and I wasn’t much better. I was appalled. This was the plan Malkin and these witches had set up years ago, to systematically get everyone out of the way who opposed them, and then to coldly and ruthlessly turn groups of people into supermarkets, for their personal use.

  I was at a loss. How did you fight an evil, an organized evil, like that? Whether or not they got the coven to agree with them, they were clearly going to summon Hudzeth in another minute—probably torture him out of Devon if nothing else—and then the three of them would control this information forever.

  Whereas all our side had was a ragtag scattering of individuals. If we could get the whole coven to agree that Sentient Magicals had rights, then at least we would have the backing of the other covens out there in the world. The Geneva Coven would support us, I felt sur
e. If we passed it. One step forward was small change, but it would make a statement, it would take a step down the right path. We would have the power of the coven to enforce our new rule. But how? How to do anything at all, when doing even a little thing would make Ingrid destroy us? Oh, she probably wasn’t allowed to do anything right here, right now, in this garage. But make no mistake, we would all meet with mysterious accidents in short order.

  And then Wulfie and Leo and Sam would have even fewer people to keep them safe.

  “And now, I think, it’s time to vote,” said Ingrid. I could see why she wanted to vote now. Six to six was a tie, and a tie meant the motion would fail. Things would go on as they were. “Perhaps someone would care to second me—”

  “Wait,” said Sparkle. “I have something else to say.” In that silence, Sparkle took the floor. “You all have to understand,” she said. “I have a unique position. It is so hard to move beyond what you were told was normal, when you were little. We live so long, and our childhoods were very long ago. We forget that the world moves forward, the world changes. If you don’t change with it, if you stick to your old ways of doing things just because they are familiar, then you are holding the entire world back from being better.”

  Boring Skirt was looking at Sparkle. Sports Team was looking at Sparkle. Everyone was looking at Sparkle, in shock. Hikari had been on their side, once. Sparkle was not. Hikari could have gotten out of here unscathed. Sparkle was putting herself in jeopardy right along with the rest of us.

  “I am not special,” Sparkle said. “I was as blind as anyone. What I learned as a teenager from my ancient great-aunt was just … truth, was just the way it was. But one thing different happened to me. I took an opportunity—for all the wrong reasons!—but I took the chance to forget my first life and start over, sixteen years ago. Even a single generation makes a tremendous difference in the way you see the world. You all have this capacity for change. You just need to wake up and see the world with new eyes. You need to do better.”

  I looked at Sparkle with amazement. I had never heard her speak so passionately about anything. She had clearly been doing some soul-searching in the last few months.

  “You make a good point,” Sports Team admitted.

  “Fiona,” said Leggings.

  “Well, she does,” said Sports Team. “I have a daughter—and a son. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve told my son that he can be anything he wants to be in the witch world. But where are his role models to emulate?”

  “Hey now,” said Ulrich.

  “The world is changing, that’s all,” said Sports Team. “And sometimes for the better.”

  “My twelve-year-old has been after me to stop teleporting,” admitted Boring Skirt. “What would she say if she were here now?”

  “What would she say?” scoffed Ingrid. “She’s not in charge—you are. The job of parents is to oppress their children as long as possible. The job of kids is to gain enough power to eventually overthrow them. That’s how I got started in my business.”

  “I don’t know,” said Sports Team. “Maybe I’ll abstain. Times do change, Ingrid.”

  “It’s six to six,” scolded Leggings. “Not voting is the same as giving it to them.”

  “If you’re threatening me, I’ll hex your minivan,” said Sports Team.

  Hope surged. Maybe we could win this. I opened my mouth to call for the vote—

  And the door burst open one last time, on a cloud of cigarette smoke.

  Valda.

  Her sharp eyes took in the situation as she stomped to her spot in the circle. Her light lit up white. She was admitted. The coven was complete. No more spots open, even if I had Wulfie or someone else here to fill them. The best I could do at this point was call for a quick end to the coven ceremonies, to lock in the two boys in their new roles.

  But even if I did that, we were only ousting Sarmine and Rimelda, who had been on our side to begin with. And there was no guarantee that Esmerelda would let Pink stay. This was as good as our numbers would get, without more overthrowing. I stood there, unwilling to draw Ingrid’s wrath yet unwilling to go down without a fight.

  Around the room, my gaze met my friends and allies, old and new. Poppy. Sparkle. Leo, Sam, Pink.

  And in the back corner, Hudzeth, his bedsheet thrown aside, watching me out of Devon’s eyes, waiting to see what I would do.

  Each drop of rain will raise the sea …

  The demon would take me to my mother if certain conditions were met, he had said.

  I finally knew what that meant.

  And it dovetailed with what I was about to do.

  Because the thing is, at some point you’ve got to do something about what you believe in. You’ve got to stand up for truth, and justice, and all that stuff. You can have all the ethics lists in the world, but when it comes down to the end of things, sometimes you have to just do what is right. And what is right might be hard to figure out, and it may not be black and white, and it might not be easy to do. You have to pick up and muddle through, and you’ll make mistakes, but it’s better than doing nothing. You might accidentally hex your boyfriend when you were trying to help him. You and your friends might loose a demon when you should have contained him in a pentagram. And your mother might even put your boyfriend in jeopardy for a chance to save a whole bunch of people.

  Because the reverse is an even bigger mistake. Failure to act is a mistake. Letting the world go to hell in a handbasket is a mistake.

  Sometimes you have a small moment where what you choose to do will make a big difference.

  I rose to my full height. My fingers trembled on my wand. “You,” I said to Ingrid, and to Claudette, and to Ulrich, “are terrible people, and I will do anything in my power to stop you. I stand with Sentient Magicals, and I will work against you. I may only be one little person, but even one person can choose to stand up to evil when they see it. And oh boy, do I see it.”

  Ingrid made an angry motion, stilled the dog at her side. “You’ll regret this, you whelp,” she said.

  “Perhaps,” I said with dignity. “But first I have some business to take care of.” I turned to the silent boy waiting in the back corner. Even if he didn’t want to take me, he had to now.

  Because I had stood up for Sentient Magicals, to the whole coven.

  There was only one person left from Saturday’s spell to get hexed or vanished, and that was me. I had declared where I stood. It was my turn to go to the oubliette of fire.

  “Hudzeth,” I said. “I’m ready.”

  He moved to the front, dark and silent, his hand outstretched to mine. The witches who had wanted him looked on in growing surprise.

  “You’ll come back,” commanded Ingrid, flustered. “Naturally we can improve on that terrible old contract of Malkin’s, find you a body—”

  “Looks like she’s already found him one—”

  “So much for her ethics—”

  The babble around me rose as Hudzeth/Devon crossed toward me, the echoes ringing in my ears. No, it wasn’t that at all. It was the clock, finally striking midnight, and there was Poppy, turning toward me, eyes worried, hearing her phone chime in my back pocket. The three Canadian soccer moms, thinking over what I had said. Valda, sharp eyes turning toward me, watching my expression go blank—

  Devon took my hand—

  And then it was all fading, fading.…

  This was what it was to vanish, to disappear. This was what Sarmine had felt, and Rimelda, and Lily. Everything was growing very warm. Perhaps I was actually burning up in a fire. Perhaps he had consigned our mothers and grandmother to the flames; perhaps everything he had said was a lie.…

  It was hot. So very, very hot.

  We were in the demon realms now, just as when Poppy and I had teleported to Ingrid’s. The demon was taking me to the oubliette, pulling me along, faster, faster. Devon’s face was flushed with fear as he looked around, going deeper into layers he didn’t belong in. I knew those green eyes so wel
l, I could read them. Fear and—guilt? But who was feeling guilt, Devon or Hudzeth?

  I looked at his eyes through the heat and the steam, and one thing finally became apparent to me. The demon had said that, if I met the conditions, he could take me to my mother, with the ingredients she needed to come home.

  He had never said that her plan would actually work.

  Here was the pit, the abyss, the one-way oubliette approaching. Other demons, presumably worse demons, reached their hands out for warm human bodies. Coward Hudzeth was ready to drop me and go. He would be gone, done with all of us, and then there would be nine bodies in the trap. No guarantee that we could ever get out. I suddenly saw that now.

  “Devon,” I said to Hudzeth. We were right on the edge, and I spun in his arms, cozying up to him. “Before we go into the pit … just one little thing, one little thing for me to remember you by.”

  His eyes lit up, and he pulled me close. So delighted to finally get that kiss.

  “Devon,” I murmured, and then my lips were touching his. “Stay with me.” I locked my hands tightly around him and toppled us over into the pit.

  * * *

  A voice, calling to me. I was feeling so hot and squashed. Flattened, sideways, thinning, drawing out, and that voice calling me back to life: “Cam! Cam!”

  I opened my eyes to see the face of my father.

  18

  N-space

  “Dad?” I was saying, and then, as joyfully as Wulfie ever could, “Dad Dad Dad Dad Dad!”

  He swept me into a hug. I had thought I might not actually know him. And yet I did. Somehow I did. He pulled back to look at me. “It seems like one year since I left—not thirteen. You were so little. It’s a good thing your mother got here first and had a chance to catch me up.”

  “I have a brother,” I said. It seemed important to get that out. “Um. Did you know?”

  “I’m delighted,” Dad said, squeezing me again. “And Mélusine is making Lily catch her up on all the stories of Poppy.”

  I looked around at that. The oubliette was basically a large rocky cavern, except there were flames licking all the walls, and the walls went up and up until they disappeared from view. There were a few arches in the rock, which I hoped led to things like bathrooms. The only light was from the fire, which cast strange shadows and made the shape of the cavern seem to continually shift and change.