by Ashley Drake
“He’s right.” I put the salt down, trying to think of a solution.
“Watch this.” Jaycee smiled as she moved to the center of our would be circle. “I told you that I have been practicing with the elements. Fire, air and water came easy. It was earth that was giving me some trouble, until your dad told me that I had to show respect. It took me awhile to understand just what that meant, but once I did…”
She raised her hands to the sky.
“The roots that grow under feet,
that give us shelter, warmth and feed.
Earth’s eternal bounty in abundance,
please protect with your arms in circumference.”
Megan grabbed onto Mike’s arm as the ground began to tremble.
Even though it was the end of December the smells of freshly cut grass, awakened blooms and summer rain breezed by me and into Jaycee.
She giggled- looking so young, so innocent, so comfortable in her power.
“Thank you, I will replace the scars with seeds when we are through.” She spoke to the
ground.
I followed her gaze and saw what she had done. In a complete circle around us was a trench, about five or six inches deep, filled with more salt than we could have every carried with us.
“Oh my God. What are you?” Judging by Megan’s voice, she was on the verge of hysteria.
The only explanation I have to what happened next, was that the spirit of Earth must have still been within Jaycee.
She walked slowly, almost floating, to Megan. “Do not fear me. You know me, as I know you. I am good, I am from the Light, I am The Witch.” She laid her hand on Megan's shoulder.
I could literally see the calming effects that the contact had caused as it cleansed Megan’s aura. I looked around to see if Daniel and Mike were witnessing what I was. Black, dirty, soot ran down Megan’s body, disappearing into the ground. What I have always described as a ‘green with envy’ aura color was being replaced with a beautiful teal, right before my very eye’s.
The moment was short, but will be an everlasting impression to my memory. This was the day Jaycee came into her full powers, filling the tremendous, destiny-sized, shoes that had been laid out for her path. Tears fell on my cheeks, this time I didn’t stop or hide them. Instead, I allowed them to shine, out of my respect, my awe and my celebration of the good- of the Light.
Jaycee removed her hand, breaking the connection. They both stumbled back, shaking their heads.
“That was… I feel…,” Megan looked to each of us as she searched for the words, “I feel like myself again. Like two hundred pounds have been lifted off me. Even the haziness in my brain is gone.” She all but cheered.
“That was the effects of a demonic oppression. You are free from it now.” Daniel smiled.
“Oh, thank you!” Megan grabbed Jaycee and squeezed her tight. “I don’t know how or why you did it, but thank you.”
Jaycee stood tight and tense, but managed to pat Megan on the back. “You’re welcome. No problem. We, umm, we really need to get started.” She pulled away. “It might be out of you but it’s still here.”
“Right, sorry.”
What a sight they made. Both stubborn, both trying to hide their feelings, both standing there awkwardly staring at each other, both more alike than they would ever admit.
Mike walked up behind Jaycee and spun her around, catching her up in a bear hug. “Jay, that was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen! My girlfriend is a sexy, badass, witch.”
It was the exact words she would have said about herself, and has, come to think of it. They were so meant for each other.
“Hate to cut this short, but we really should get this show on the road. I’m sure the magic you just used didn’t go unnoticed.” I tried to sound all strong and leader-shippy, while still trying to process what just happened.
While Daniel put Megan, Blaze and Mike in their spots, I pulled Jaycee aside. “I know we don’t have to time to go over what just happened, and we will dissect it in great detail when this is over, but I just wanted to give you this.” I hugged her and kissed her on the cheek. “That was your moment, I saw it and felt it. I’m still not sure what really happened. I do, however, know that was you coming into your full powers.”
She too allowed her tears to fall. “I felt it, Han. Something or someone was in here with me!” She moved her hand over her chest. “It was like a door opened, and all this power just came rushing out.”
“To bad it will be short lived.” We all turned to see Mikah standing just beyond the circle.
Blaze lunged toward him.
Chapter 19
“No!” I screamed.
For next few seconds I went on total impulse. I threw my energy toward the candles, lighting not only them, but the entire salt of circle went up in flames. It blocked Blaze’s leap, causing him to dig into the ground to stop himself before plowing into the wall of flames.
“Blaze, protect Mike and Megan! They need you.” Blaze reluctantly did as he was told, and went over to stand in between them.
It was a message for both Blaze and Mikah when I spoke again. “They are without power, but I am not.”
“Such brave words from such a little girl, hiding behind her witch’s parlor tricks.” Mikah nodded toward the circle.
He had taken the face of an ordinary looking man. It was his body that gave away a hint of his demonic form. At first he seemed to be wearing all black, but when I really allowed myself to look I saw that it wasn’t clothes at all or skin. He wore a suit of pure evil, that clung to him, feeding off his rage. Each, leach-looking, blob danced along his body in frenzied excitement.
“I’m The Witch, asshole.” Mimicking Mikah’s own move from the other night, Jaycee conjured fire for each hand. “And I don’t even have to possess someone do it.” Taunting him, she juggled the balls of fire from palm to palm.
“You all are nothing more than a group of pathetic minions. One that Malcolm spent too much time playing with. Unlike me, he let his guard down during your weak attempt to destroy him. You will pay for that, by the way, before I kill you.” He aimed his black claw fingered hand at Jaycee, squeezing it into a fist.
As her feet gave out from under her, she slung the fireballs at Mikah. He only had to flick the air to deflect them, bouncing them off the protection shield of the circle.
Daniel and I ran to her side as she laid on the ground holding her throat with both hands. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Mike trying to make his way to her when Blaze jumped up, placing his two front paws onto Mike’s chest. Standing on his hind legs, he was nearly eye to eye with Mike.
Refusing to give Mikah the satisfaction of seeing us in turmoil, I calmly laid my hand on Jaycee’s forehead and entered her mind, with Daniel following my lead. We felt her internal fight for air.
“He can’t touch us in here. Mikah tried to return your fireball but it could not re-enter the circle. This is just an illusion!” I cried out to her.
“She’s right,” Daniel added, “you’re breathing. I’m watching you breathe!”
I called on air, water, fire and earth. Any and everything I could think of to help her.
We felt Jaycee take back control of her body as she let loose of her throat. Daniel took one side and I took the other, helping her stand.
“I’m all right.” Jaycee shrugged off our help so she could stand on her own. “Seriously, I’m good.” She looked to Mike to make sure that he saw for himself that she was.
Behind us Mikah let out a gurgled laugh. The repugnant stench of death from it carried it’s way through the wind. “Not bad, not bad at all. Sadly though, play time is over, children.” He rolled out his arm toward Megan in a disfigured, exaggerated, bow. “Come.” He commanded.
Megan hid behind Mike while Blaze stood in front of them both, growling in a low primal hum.
Realizing, only then, that he had lost control over her, he screamed with anger. A wrath so loud, so piercing, my natural defenses
wanted me to cover my ears. I was able to reframe, out of leadership. Maybe, out of pride.
“What have you done?” He shrieked at me. “You dare to destroy what I have spent years on? I told you she was MINE!” His body commenced to morph in robotic type motions as he lost the hold on his composure. He fell on all fours, arching his spine, producing a long whip like tail. Each leachy piece scrambled to hold on.
The sounds of popping and cracking had my stomach retching. Daniel sprinted to the right side of the circle, calling out into the dark trees. I tried to link with him, but I could not direct my thoughts anywhere except on the monstrous sight before me. It was repulsively hypnotic.
Mikah’s once human face, distorted into a triangular, hair covered snout. Thick strings of saliva dripped from his fangs. Fangs that spread from ear to ear, taking up the majority of his head. Yesterday, I would have thought, that with all my years of watching gory movies with special effects, that I would be
desensitized. I sure wasn’t thinking that now. Nothing on film can touch this real life horror.
I felt someone call to me, yet the ringing in my ears prevented me from making out who or what they were saying. All I knew, was that this battle was getting away from us, and fast. I decided we needed to regroup, to link mind to mind and body to body with Daniel and Jaycee. I turned to call on them, only to be pummeled to the ground. With the newly formed beast on top of me.
His sharp talons tore at my clothes, leaving behind slashes of blood. In seconds, my shirt and bra were mere shreds. I tried to fight, I tried to find my power, but all I could do was just that- try. Fear clawed to take over while my mind started to shut down. I knew, from my dad, that this was a natural response from the brain trying to protect the mind from something it can’t handle. Right now though, if I allowed that to happen it wouldn’t protect me, it would be the death of me. I couldn’t let it. I pushed to hold on.
Mikah rolled out a revolting forked tongue, licking me from my throat to my forehead, as he continued to attack me. By now, my poor body, that laid naked and covered in gashes, convulsed with each new slice. I knew his plans were to finish what he had started in Cherokee. He meant to rape me.
That one four letter word clicked something inside of me and awoke my anger, causing a proverbial slap to my hysterical face. It was just what I needed to register that my body wasn’t responding to the pain, just to the thought of the pain.
I reached up and took hold of the beast’s coarse fur and took pleasure in seeing the shock in Mikah’s vicious, red eyes.
Before I spoke I sent up a prayer to help me sound powerful and strong.
“You bore me.” I managed to give him a ‘kiss-my-butt’ smirk just before throwing his illusion, along with his actual body, against an old Walnut tree. Thank you Daniel, for having that gift for me to copy.
I stood up and looked down at my body. I was fine, and my clothes were still intact.
A pack of dogs ran out of the tree line, pouncing on Mikah. I watched as one latched onto Mikah’s leg, and proceeded to shake it’s head from side to side. Noticing the long, lean, muscular shape of the body, it hit me that they were not dogs at all. They were coyotes, all five of them. Even though, I’ve always heard of coyote sightings in rural areas of the foothills, I haven’t actually seen one, let alone five. Daniel must have called for them. Four of them went for the limb’s. The fifth jumped and landed on the beast’s back and started to tear away at the dense fur coat.
Taking advantage of the distraction, I gathered my group together. “Is everyone okay?”
“We’re fine. It’s you we were worried about.” Daniel said as he quickly looked me over for injuries. “I couldn’t get to you. None of us could.”
“Yeah,”, Jaycee added, “we couldn’t move. It was like he was able to freeze us or something. We knew it was all in our minds, yet we couldn’t break it. How did you do it?”
I recalled how Mikah’s beastly body covered mine and what he had aimed to do. In the moment, everything was happening so quickly, I didn’t have time to process every thought that sped through my mind. Reflecting back, I remember thinking of something that Mom had said to me about rape. How it was not about sex, it was about power. Metaphorically or not, it was my refusal to surrender my powers that snapped me out of it.
“A little help from my mom.” I answered confidently, but something gnawed at me. I couldn’t help but wonder if I might be onto something. If he had succeeded, would he have actually taken my powers, along with The Heart?
“Hey, guys, you might wanna pay attention. We have a problem.” I was impressed that even in this situation, Megan was still able to sound irritated with us.
We turned in time to watch Mikah, back in human form, hurl fire at the coyotes, chasing them back into the trees. The sounds of barking and yelping faded as they ran.
Mikah smiled as he dusted himself off. “That was entertaining. Now, “ he clasped his hands together, “hand over Megan and I might allow you to live to see another day.”
“Why do you want her so bad?” Daniel questioned him. “What is she to you?”
“Think of her as my pet, my project, if you will. I have grown tired of watching The Light pair misfits together in feeble attempts to destroy me. So, I obtained a hobby. Malcolm seemed to enjoy his hobby of collecting lost souls so much that I decided to get my own.” He directed his focus to Megan. “I didn’t turn you evil, only fed the seed that was already inside of you. And you were so easy to persuade. A lonely, pathetic little girl, tired of being cast into the shadows by others. Only to find that the shadows is really where you belong.”
“That’s enough!” I yelled. I was prepared to add a witty insult. It was something I had heard, and secretly rehearsed, from watching reruns of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Before I had the chance, a small, meek voice from behind me spoke up. It was Megan.
“I am not evil. You have tortured me almost my entire life. You have made me feel like I was going crazy, that my family and friends hated me. You came into my dreams and…” Megan covered her mouth with her hand and started to cry. “I am not evil.” She repeated. “You ruined my life. You gave me thoughts and made me believe they were mine. Do you know how much I have lost because of you? Do you know how much pain you have caused me?” She paused long enough to make herself look into his eyes. “Of course you know. You get off on making lives miserable.”
In a ready to fight stance, Jaycee firmly planted her feet to the ground. “You’re not getting her, dickhead, so get over it.”
“Last chance.” Mikah scanned each of our faces. “Going once. Going twice. Gone.” He snapped his fingers and the ring of fire protecting our circle went out.
Standing between Jaycee and Daniel, I linked hands with them both. “The spell, now!”
“They’ll be no time for that. You three are strong, I’ll admit, but ignorant. Did you really think that, after only having your powers for a few short months, you could keep me out? Me, who has lived for thousands of years?” He eased closer to the circle as he continued. “Instead of coddling each other, you should have been checking your perimeters. The very ones that I have been weakening since my arrival.” He scanned over to me. “Tisk, tisk, tisk.” He clucked his tongue. “Even after all your efforts, and wasted show of heroism, I will have your powers, dear Hannah. Time to get what’s mine.”
Mikah raised his arms out from his side, blue flames ignited his fingertips as he pushed against our barrier. He threw his head back, absorbing the power and energy from the circle.
“Start the spell!” Daniel cried out to Jaycee.
“I can’t, I’m linked to the circle! What he’s taking away from it, takes away from me!”
I had to think of something, I couldn’t let us die. I literally saw flashes of my life appear before me. I saw my first day of kindergarten, when I first met Jaycee. The first tooth I lost and placed under my pillow. My dad teaching me how to swim, while my mom cheered me on. Howard, my first living impaired. Th
e death of my grandma. The first time I ever laid eyes on Daniel. Our first kiss. The necklace he gave me on my sixteenth birthday.
It hit me. “The necklace! Jaycee use your necklace!”
“How?” She asked while fishing the necklace out of her shirt.
“Use it’s power to recharge your own!”
“That could take time that we don’t have!” Although doubtful, she held the crystal in her hand as it started to glow.
I looked to Mikah to make sure he hadn’t broke through yet. Thank God, he was still on the other side. But for how long, was the question. We weren't ready for this. As leader, I should have known, I should have waited, I should have…
The ground before us began to shake. I was sure that this was the works of Mikah, playing with us one last time before finishing us off.
“Hold on!” Daniel yelled as he tightened his grip on me to help me balance.
A bolt of lightning shot out of the ground, dissipating into hundreds of tiny sparkles in the air. I was wrong, this was not Mikah’s doings. The energy and power that radiated from the lights were good and pure. The sky looked like strands upon strands of white Christmas bulbs. They floated above us briefly before making a swarm toward Mikah. Letting go of our circle, he swatted at them. The lights formed a halo around Mikah’s head, blinding him.
“Han, are you doing that?” Jaycee asked in amazement.
“No, I thought it was you. Daniel?”
“It’s not me either. Jaycee are you ready to do this spell?”
“Only one way to find out.”
Daniel took a knife out of his back pocket, sliced his palm, then handed it to me. I repeated the process, as did Jaycee. With the spell already memorized, we began.
“We call upon the spirit of the Light,
To combine our powers so we may fight,
This evil, one part of three, must be banished,
Our blood as the key,
Send Mikah to hell,
