Crossroads

by Wendy Saunders

  ‘What does it mean?’ Roni asked.

  ‘It’s a tracking spell,’ Danae replied as she thoughtfully studied the map, ‘it tracks every location in Mercy that the Soul Collector has been to.’

  ‘He’s been busy,’ Fiona mused as she looked at just how many dots were spread ominously across the town limits.

  ‘Look at this,’ Danae pointed to a section of the map North-West of the lake, deep in the woods.

  When they looked closer they could see a large amount of dots, so many of them it congealed into a small black splotch of ink and blood.

  ‘He’s spent a lot of time at this location,’ Danae frowned, ‘but there’s nothing there. It’s just woodland which leads down to the shore of the lake.’

  ‘There must have been a reason he returned to this location so many times.’

  Olivia leaned over the map and looked at the location they were discussing and recognized it immediately. It was the Bachelier place. Located close to the lake concealed by the woods stood the small cabin which Thomas Walcott had taken her to when he’d kidnapped her the previous year. At the time he’d been using her as bait to lure her father in, so that he could kill him and after that he’d fully intended to kill her too. During the time she’d been there he’d kept her drugged and tied up in the small cabin which had belonged to his maternal grandmother Clea Bachelier, a hoodoo woman who’d moved to Mercy back in the day and married the former Chief’s Grand-daddy. Being an upstanding pillar of the community and the Police Chief himself, he’d insisted she change her name to Clare, in an attempt to hide her colorful heritage.

  Why would the Soul Collector be drawn to that place in particular? Olivia wondered. She cast her mind back to the cabin, swallowing back the memory of the pain and fear. She’d been drugged most of the time so her recollections were still fairly hazy at best. But it seemed there was something, something she was forgetting, it tickled at the back of her mind dancing just out of reach. She’d been sitting in the chair she remembered, forcing her mind back to a place it didn’t want to go. Her hands had been taped tightly to the chair. She unconsciously rubbed the skin of her wrist as if she could still feel the pinch.

  She’d heard a sound outside…a merrily tinkling sound like glass. She’d tried to look out of the window and she couldn’t so she’d scooted the chair forwards and strained her neck, trying to catch a glimpse and she’d seen…glass, brightly colored glass.

  A bottle tree. Olivia stood abruptly and her mouth fell open slightly as her mind tried furiously to fill in the blanks. She’d seen a bottle tree outside the cabin. Dozens and dozens of brightly colored glass bottles suspended from the branches of the old gnarled tree. She remembered thinking she’d seen something similar on a trip to New Orleans. Bottle trees were old world magic which had come over on the slave ships from Africa. The bottles were used to trap evil spirits and they were supposed to be destroyed by the rising sun. She wasn’t exactly sure what was going on but it had to have something to do with that bottle tree, it was too big a coincidence for it not to be.

  ‘Right,’ Roni straightened up, ‘we should head out there then and take a look.’

  ‘Hold on there G.I Jane,’ Danae frowned. ‘I’ll admit you tackling a soul stealing demon was pretty bad ass but it was also pretty stupid, you got lucky last time. There is no point us heading out to the woods if we don’t know what we’re walking into.’

  ‘I know,’ Roni replied, ‘and if this were normal circumstances I’d be saying exactly the same thing but this isn’t normal circumstances. We need to find the souls before they are destroyed. It’s the only hope we have of returning them to their bodies.’

  ‘Look,’ Danae breathed patiently, ‘I know you want to help Jake. I do too, but he won’t thank me if I end up getting you killed or worse.’

  Olivia’s head snapped up at the mention of Jake.

  ‘What? What’s happened to Jake?’ she stepped closer to her friend. ‘Roni what’s happened to Jake?’

  It was no use they couldn’t hear her, or even sense her presence. Damn it, she should have used a spell that worked both ways. It was all very well being able to see and hear them but it didn’t do any good if she couldn’t communicate with them in return.

  ‘Veronica,’ Danae replied sympathetically, ‘I will do whatever I can to make sure we get Jake’s soul back but we need to be smart here, we can’t go in all guns blazing.’

  ‘I’m not suggesting that at all,’ she shook her head, ‘but think about it. We sneak in, take a look around is all I’m suggesting. If we are unlucky enough to run into him, you have your whip which seems to be able to harm him.’

  ‘What about you?’

  ‘You saw what happened outside the church, he doesn’t seem to be able to harm me while I’m wearing this.’ She pulled the small crescent moon suspended on a long silver chain from the collar of her shirt.

  ‘Where’d you get that girl?’ Fiona’s eyes narrowed in interest as she stepped closer.

  ‘Jake gave it to me when we were helping to close the gateway, he said it came from the Goddess Diana herself. Olivia, Theo and Jake all had one.’

  ‘And he gave it to you?’

  ‘Yeah,’ Roni muttered dejectedly as she stared down at it. If he hadn’t given it to her he’d have been wearing it at the time he’d been attacked and he would’ve been safe.

  ‘Don’t do that,’ Danae told her firmly as Roni looked up into her eyes. ‘He wanted you to have it and it saved you. I know Jake and I know he wouldn’t have traded your soul to save his.’

  Roni’s eyes filled with tears and her expression tightened. ‘I want him back I don’t care what it takes.’

  Danae studied her with a grave expression, finally she nodded slowly.

  ‘Alright’ she conceded with a sigh, ‘you’d better take this.’

  She handed her a gun that looked familiar.

  ‘Jake’s gun?’ Roni frowned, ‘why? I mean what’s the point? It didn’t do Jake much good.’

  ‘I’ve switched out the magazine for something a little special I cooked up.’

  ‘I don’t understand?’ she shook her head.

  ‘The bullets in that magazine have been dipped in holy water and blessed by a priest’ Danae told her. ‘Charun is a demon, those bullets won’t kill him but they will hopefully slow him down a bit.’

  Roni nodded. Checking the safety she tucked it into the back of her jeans.

  ‘Let’s go then.’

  ‘You girls be careful,’ Fiona frowned in concern ‘and call me as soon as you can.’

  Olivia watched worriedly as her young aunt and her friend headed out of the house, while Fiona anxiously stalked her living room, snuffing out candles and cleaning up. This wasn’t good at all. If she was understanding correctly the Soul Collector had taken Jake’s soul and they were heading out directly into its path. She couldn’t help her friends while she was stuck in the Otherworld and it was killing her. She thought of Jake’s body lying in a hospital bed, wired up to machines which were keeping him alive while his soul was God knows where. She had to do something, where the hell was her father? Why wasn’t he helping them? And why were Roni and Danae heading out into the woods on their own? God there were just too many questions she didn’t have answers to. She needed Bridget, she’d been in the Otherworld waiting for her for the last three hundred years, if anyone knew a way to contact the others in the real world it would be her.

  Scooping up her backpack from the floor and sliding it onto her back securely she focused on Bridget’s cabin and watched as her surroundings blurred around her and she re-materialized in the cabin with Bridget staring at her in annoyance.

  ‘Where did you get to?’ she asked crossly with her hands propped on her hips. ‘You were supposed to be helping me figure out the compass?’

  ‘Sorry’ Olivia replied, ‘I guess I got distracted. I was thinking about Fiona and the Soul Collector and before I knew it I was sitting in he
r living room.’

  Bridget harrumphed as her eyes narrowed.

  ‘Well, I suppose its easily done, after being here a while you learn to tune out random thoughts and focus your energies.’

  ‘I am sorry Bridget but I could really use your help.’

  ‘What in the name of the Goddess do you think I’ve been doing?’

  ‘No not with the compass, with something else.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘I saw Fiona and my friends.’

  ‘How?’ she asked suspiciously.

  ‘I used a spell from Hester's Grimoire which allowed me to see what was happening in that room in the real world.’

  ‘You have my sister’s Grimoire?’ she blinked in surprise.

  ‘Yes,’ Olivia nodded.

  ‘With you?’

  She nodded again.

  ‘May I see it?’ she asked slowly, her tone unreadable.

  Not really seeing any reason not to, Olivia slipped her backpack from her shoulders and unzipped the bag reaching in. Her hands once again grasped onto the warm leather of the book and drew it out, gently setting it on the table in front of them.

  Bridget’s eyes widened and she took an involuntary step forwards. Her eyes lingered on the triple moon etched deeply into the leather and the tree of life beneath it. She reached out with trembling fingers, hesitating for a moment before she finally grasped the cover and opened the book. Strangely enough the words weren’t swirling on the page like it did when Olivia was holding it but rather lay static and lifeless on the page.

  ‘You can read this?’ Bridget asked after a moment.

  ‘Yes,’ she replied, ‘although it’s strange. Sometimes it shows me just regular spells, ones that would have been commonplace in your time, ones that Hester would have used on a regular basis. Then there are times when I ask for something in particular and it shows me exactly what I need, only it’s not exactly a spell, more like instructions.’

  ‘What do you mean you ask for it?’

  ‘Exactly what I said, I ask the book to help me and it shows me exactly what I need. When I was back at home, it showed me how to create a weapon that would kill a Hell Hound and in Fiona’s living room it showed me how to make it so I could see and hear what was going on in her room.’

  Bridget stared at her silently.

  ‘Bridget?’ Olivia asked after a moment.

  She closed the book slowly and handed it back to Olivia, watching as she zipped it back into her backpack.

  ‘Bridget are you all right?’ Olivia asked in confusion.

  She blinked but continued to watch her in uncomfortable silence.

  ‘Olivia,’ she finally spoke, ‘there’s something you need to know about the bo…’

  ‘We’ve found it!’ a sudden voice interrupted.

  They both turned to see Sam and Theo had reappeared in the corner of the cabin by the door.

  ‘What?’

  ‘We’ve found the gateway to the Underworld, I knew we were getting close,’ Sam grinned.

  ‘So where is it?’ Olivia asked.

  ‘The entrance is a mausoleum in the cemetery,’ Theo stepped closer and wrapped his arms around Olivia dropping a light kiss on her upturned lips.

  ‘You’re kidding?’ she turned back to Sam, ‘a mausoleum?’

  ‘Yeah I know’ he laughed, ‘not subtle are they.’

  ‘Guess not,’ she shook her head.

  ‘Have you made any progress with the compass?’ Theo asked her quietly.

  ‘No,’ she replied, ‘but there is something else.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Theo,’ she breathed heavily as her eyes darkened with worry, ‘it’s Jake.’

  ‘What about Jake?’ he asked in concern.

  ‘The Soul Collector, he’s taken Jake’s…’

  Suddenly there was a huge roar and they were all thrown to the ground as it began to shake violently. It was much worse than the previous times it had happened. Furniture toppled, everything around them smashed to the floor and this time the beam cracked in half and fell, crushing the table. Theo rolled over to Olivia trying to protect her from falling debris but as she looked up she saw the whole back wall of the cabin disappear into a swirling undulating wall of blackness.

  The chairs scraped across the floor and flew into the darkness. Everything that had fallen to the ground began sliding towards it as if caught in the path of a tornado sucking up everything in sight. Olivia saw her backpack begin to slide towards that yawning black hole and without thinking she struggled out from beneath Theo and scrambled forwards to grab it. She felt herself caught up in a riptide of air and she began to slide along the wooden floor towards the darkness. Theo reached out and grabbed her wrist dragging her across the floor towards him.

  ‘It’s the Void its expanding,’ Bridget yelled above the ominous grinding and cracking. ‘Everybody get out!’

  Bridget scrambled towards the doorway, reaching out as Sam grabbed her hands and pulled her through the door out into the open. Theo pulled Olivia closer, grasping a hand to stop her from sliding back, while her other fist wrapped tightly around the strap of her bag to keep it from being pulled into the crushing blackness. They clawed and pulled themselves across the floor, but it felt as if the cabin had tilted. It now sloped down towards that ominous gaping maw which lead straight into the Void, an endless well of nothingness that consumed everything in its path. They crawled forwards trying to reach the door but they just kept sliding backwards, caught in the suction as debris and other items flashed past them, disappearing into the black behind them. There was nothing left for them to grip onto. As Theo felt the molten metal embedded in the flesh of his arm begin to flow down to his palm he fisted his hand and felt his palm close around the hilt of his knife. He stabbed it viciously into the wooden floor in a crack of jagged splinters. For a moment it slowed their momentum as Olivia clung to his other hand desperately, but slowly the blade simply began to carve out a channel in the floor and they were once again sucked towards the Void.

  Theo felt someone grab his wrist and looked up to see Sam materialize in front of him then everything around them shifted and blurred. The three of them dropped to the dry grass outside Bridget's cabin in a tangle of bodies and limbs.

  ‘Thanks,’ Theo panted heavily.

  ‘Don’t mention it,’ Sam breathed just as heavily, as the three of them looked up in time to see what was left of the cabin collapse in on itself and disappear into the crushing blackness of the Void.

  Olivia glanced across to see that the Void now not only encompassed the majority of the lake and surrounding woods, but also her own house was gone. Taking a deep breath and reminding herself it wasn’t real, that her house still existed in the real world, she turned back to the swirling wall of darkness in front of them. It didn’t seem to be stopping she thought with a frown which suddenly turned to alarm as the grass at her feet began to disappear.

  ‘It’s shifting again,’ she scrambled back and felt Theo yank her to her feet.

  The four of them ran, the ground still trembling under their feet and opening up behind them, snapping at their heels like a vicious animal. They headed into the woods to the North West, stumbling and trying to keep their balance.

  Slowly everything began to still and calm, the ground behind them stopped disappearing and stabilized. They finally stopped, breathing heavily with exertion and tentatively they emerged from the tree line to the shore of the lake.

  Only a tiny sliver of the once huge lake remained. Everything else had been consumed by the Void which stood immovable, shimmering and undulating in front of them like a giant wall.

  ‘I guess that means Nathaniel and Isabel have taken out another Crossroad,’ Sam frowned. ‘That’s three now.’

  ‘He’s right,’ Theo breathed heavily, ‘we’ve run out of time. We need to get to the gateway and cross over to the Underworld before this world disappears completely. We’ll just have to figur
e out the compass when we get there.’

  Olivia stood, silently staring out over what little remained of the lake, her heart sinking. She knew they were right but everything inside her screamed out at the thought of leaving now. She knew she’d made a promise to Hades and it was one she absolutely intended to keep, but there was something she had to do first.

  ‘Olivia?’ Theo touched her arm gently, startling her out of her thoughts. ‘Olivia, did you hear us? We have to go now before the cemetery gets pulled into the Void and we lose our only chance to cross over.’

  She turned back to him her eyes dark.

  ‘I can’t…’ she whispered.

  ‘What?’ he frowned in confusion.

  ‘I’m sorry Theo,’ she shook her head, ‘but we have to go back to Mercy…’

  Chapter 18.

  ‘What do you mean?’ Theo frowned in confusion, ‘why would you want to go back to Mercy?’

  ‘I was trying to tell you before’ she replied, ‘the Soul Collector has taken Jake’s soul. Theo…he’s dying.’

  ‘No,’ he whispered.

  ‘Roni and Danae have tracked the Soul Collector to the Bachelier cabin on the North West of the lake. Do you remember when Thomas Walcott kidnapped me?’

  ‘How could I forget?’

  ‘That was the cabin he took me to.’

  ‘Why would the Soul Collector go there?’

  ‘I don’t know’ she shook her head, ‘maybe because its isolated? Or maybe it has something to do with the bottle tree outside the cabin?’

  ‘Olivia…’ he began.

  ‘Look, Jake’s down and I don’t know where my father is but he doesn’t seem to be helping them. God knows what else has been going on in Mercy or how many other people have been hurt, but I do know Roni and Danae are on their way to the cabin and they have no idea what they are walking into. They are going to get hurt if we don’t do something.’

  ‘Olivia I know you want to help them, I do too but we can’t’ Theo replied. ‘There’s just no way to do it. This world is on the verge of collapsing, even if we could find another gateway that leads back into the real world…’