by Meagan Hill
“No, I didn’t. I went through the motions, but I knew I couldn’t do it. If I had, I would be just as bad as them, and I would rather have killed myself than do this to another person.”
“So it’s safe to come back now?”
“Yes, it’s safe. My mother-in-law-to-be, Nina, and I are just outside your door. You’re quite powerful, you know. You have a very strong physical shield, and it’s keeping us out. That’s why I pulled you in here so I could talk to you. Are you ready to come back?”
The girl thought it over for several minutes. Miranda didn’t rush her, knowing the girl deserved to take the time she needed to feel comfortable with the situation. Finally, she lifted her face back to Miranda. “You promise you’re right outside the door?”
“Yes, I promise. Nina and I are just outside, waiting for you whenever you’re ready to leave.” Miranda broke off, tilting her head as she listened to Mitch inside her head, before turning back to the girl. “I hate to rush you, but the men need us to vacate the compound so they can finish destroying it. I told him I was in here with you, and they’ll hold off as long as possible, but it’s really best to not let all that dark magic float around unbound.”
“Magic? Like, real magic?”
“Yes, real magic. I’ll explain more later, okay? Actually, I’ll let someone else explain, and we’ll both learn. How’s that sound?”
“That sounds good. Can I go back to my family, too?”
“As far as I know, yes. You’re awfully young to have to keep such a huge secret, but if you want to go back, you’ll have to hide what you know about magic. It’s dangerous to all of us if you don’t.”
The girl considered Miranda’s words before nodding her understanding. “Okay, let’s go.” Miranda released the girl from the plane, making sure to wait until she was completely detached before leaving the plane herself. Miranda opened her eyes, pleased to hear Nina moving around the room behind her and talking to the young girl. Miranda got up, slowly due to the painful cuts scattered across her torso, before moving into the room. Nina had already released the girl’s ankle chains and was working on one of her hands. Miranda moved to work on the other hand, glad to see the girl aware and watching them closely.
“What is your name?” Nina asked the girl.
“Melanie. Melanie Howards. I’m from Albuquerque. You’re Nina, right?”
Nina smiled at her and nodded. Melanie turned her head to look at Miranda. “What’s your name?”
“My name is Miranda Masterson. Or, rather, it will be once Mitch and I get married. It’s been so long since I’ve thought about my real last name that I nearly forgot it.”
“So, I have some kind of magical power?” The two women chuckled at the little girl’s exuberance as they helped her get dressed in the clothes they’d found in the adjacent bathroom.
“Yes, that mark on your neck is actually a sign that you are a Gifted One. When you’re older, and if you want to, you’ll be able to join a coven and learn how to use the magic you have. Until then, you can’t say anything about it to anyone, not even your parents. Do you understand why?”
Melanie thought for a moment before nodding. “Yes, we just went over the Salem witch trials in history. Something like that might happen again if it was discovered there were people who had extra powers. Is that right?”
Nina smiled at her softly. “Yes, child, you are exactly right. That was a horrible time to live in for anyone, but especially bad for those who were blessed with extra abilities.”
“Okay, I’ll keep quiet about it. How am I going to explain what happened to me?”
“I’m not sure just yet, but we’ll figure it out back at the hotel. Go to the restroom if you need to, but hurry. The guys need us out as soon as possible,” Miranda told her. Melanie nodded before skipping off to the bathroom. She emerged a couple of minutes later, and the three ladies left the room. They joined the men in the main room. Everyone else had left the compound, leaving one vehicle for the six of them.
Without a word, they left the compound. Nina directed Melanie to stand off to the side while they completed the final rite that would finally destroy the compound and all of the horrible things it contained. The five of them stood in a line, with Malcolm in the middle, Mitch to his left, Nina to his right. James stood on the other side of Nina, and Miranda stood on Mitch’s left. Malcolm began a chant, using the language Miranda was slowly starting to understand. The rest of them joined into the chant, following Malcolm’s lead as he raised his hands even with his chest with his palms facing outward. Miranda could feel her magic flowing freely through her before joining with the others to create a massive flow of energy. Their chanting increased in speed and volume as the energy flow doubled then trebled in size. Finally, they were shouting the words as their powers reached their apex. Suddenly, Malcolm shoved the power flow directly into the compound. The wind and noise was deafening as their power poured into the structure, filling it with their good magic.
Then, suddenly, everything was silent and still as the light from the magic drew down into the heart of the compound, allowing the glow to fade before blasting outward. The entire compound was instantly wiped away, along with the dark forces that had continued to drift around it even after Cabela had been destroyed. The force of the cosmic blast knocked all five of them onto their backs, the noise of it deafening their ears for several long seconds before, just as suddenly as it had happened, it was gone. The night, which Miranda was shocked to see was already starting to bleed into day, was quiet once again. The compound was completely destroyed. Not even the foundation still stood. There was rubble scattered everywhere, with small bits still falling around them.
They began to get up to their feet, the men helping the women up, when Miranda suddenly remembered Melanie was standing near them. Fearing that the blast had injured the young girl, Miranda looked around to find that Melanie was standing near the back of the car, grinning as she maintained a visible shield around her. Obviously, the girl had protected herself during the explosion and subsequent fall of debris because she was still clean and uninjured.
Miranda moved to hug Melanie, relieved she was unhurt. Melanie allowed her into her protected circle. Miranda bent down to give her a gentle hug when, suddenly, two shots rang out. Miranda, who was facing the direction from which the shots came, saw the bullets bounce off Melanie’s shield. Had Melanie not still maintained her shield around them, Miranda would have been hit.
Mitch, Malcolm, and James immediately leapt into action upon hearing the gunfire. Malcolm pushed Nina down behind the car to protect her from any more shots while Mitch lurched toward Miranda and Melanie to do the same, only to be knocked backwards onto his ass when he got to within three feet of them.
“We’re fine, Mitch! She’s shielding both of us. Help Malcolm track those two down. They must be the two coven members who weren’t there for the ceremony.” As Miranda reassured Mitch, she grabbed Melanie and moved to crouch behind the car and motioned to Melanie to expand her shield around the rest of them.
Melanie was able to extend her shield to include Nina but was unable to push it outward to include the guys. “I can’t get it to go further! I think we have to be touching or really close for it to work.”
Miranda clutched Melanie to her before replying, “It’s okay, Melanie. Don’t worry about it. They’ll be fine. Just worry about you, okay?” Melanie could only nod as she burrowed her head into Miranda’s neck, her little body quivering in fear.
Mitch recovered quickly, jumping to his feet to move to the rear of the car. He peered around the back of it, searching for the shooters. While the rising sun did shed a bit of light for them, the surrounding woods, from which the gunfire had erupted, hid the men well. Mitch glanced to the other end of the car to check on Malcolm and James. At Malcolm’s nod, Mitch drew on his power to create a small ball of light at his chest before thrusting it outward toward the area from which the shots had come. The ball flew into the trees, gaining altitude
quickly. Once it reached the line of trees and was about fifteen feet in the air, the ball expanded quickly, shedding a bright light throughout the entire area, easily highlighting the two men attacking them.
Malcolm and James knew from past battles that Mitch would be able to maintain the light for as long as was needed, but he would be unable to assist in the retaliation attack. Mitch had other offensive powers, but it took all of his concentration to maintain the ball of energy. Miranda, quickly assessing the situation, reached out to wrap her hand around Mitch’s knee, hoping Melanie would be able to extend her protection to him without interfering with what he was doing. Miranda drew a deep sigh of relief when Melanie was able to do just that.
While all of this was happening, the two men in the trees continued to pepper the group whenever one of them showed movement from behind the car. All of the bullets either hit the car or ricocheted off of it. Malcolm, now angry at the threat to his family and the unnecessary destruction of the rented vehicle, decided it was time to fight back.
“Miranda! Can you pull them?”
“No, I’ve tried. They’re too far away from me.”
Malcolm nodded his understanding and turned his gaze back to the two men. Malcolm knew all of them had about tapped out their energy destroying the coven, and he didn’t know how long Mitch would be able to hold the light, though he knew Mitch would hold it as long as possible. “James, what about fault lines?”
James was able to move earth. If there were fault lines in the area, he could cause them to rupture, opening a line in the earth and, hopefully, causing their enemies to fall in. James thrust his hands into the ground at his feet, feeling for the weak spots he needed. After a moment, James looked back up at Malcolm and shook his head. There was nothing there that would be helpful besides some downed trees scattered through the area.
Malcolm nodded his understanding again before glancing over at Mitch, seeing the strain he was unable to hide. They needed to do something quick.
Miranda was very aware of the stress Mitch was dealing with as she felt his energy drain. Looking at Malcolm, she could see he was out of ideas. Glancing back at Mitch, her eye caught on something tucked into the back of Mitch’s pants. Leaning forward a bit to see better, she realized it was the butt of a handgun. Suddenly, Miranda knew exactly what to do. She passed Melanie to Nina and got to her feet, moving silently behind Mitch. Placing her hand on his back so as not to startle him, Miranda pulled the gun from his pants.
“Miranda, what are you doing?”
“I’m getting the gun. It’s time to end this. You’re almost out of energy, and Malcolm is coming up empty on ideas.”
“We’re both more defensive than offensive, so we’re rarely on the frontlines of a battle.”
Miranda nodded her understanding as she checked the number of bullets the gun held. Mitch watched her from the corner of his eye, surprised at how comfortably she handled the gun. She’d obviously been well trained. He was curious at how she’d gained that skill but knew it was best to wait until later to get that answer.
Miranda nudged Mitch’s legs, getting him to widen them, before crawling through and wiggling forward under the car. Once she was in far enough to make the shots, she stopped and braced herself, taking in the scene before her. Both of the shooters were hiding behind tree trunks. She needed them to pull out enough to take a shot themselves.
Mitch, having read her thoughts, murmured the information to James. Glad to finally be able to do something, James fed his powers into the dirt, channeling that energy forward into one of the fallen trees directly behind one of the shooters. The tree lurched toward the man, knocking him into view for Miranda.
Miranda didn’t hesitate. She squeezed the trigger twice, hitting the man once in the chest and once in the head, exactly as she had planned. The shot man squeezed his own trigger reflexively before collapsing to the ground, dead. Miranda adjusted her stance, zeroing in on the second shooter before mentally telling Mitch she was ready for the second one.
It took Mitch a moment to react as he stared at the now-dead man. Miranda was a hell of a shot, something he’d never been able to achieve. Shaking himself out of his daze, he glanced over at James and nodded. Mitch could see that Malcolm and James were just as stupefied as he had been, and Mitch felt a huge swelling of pride for her explode within him.
“Today, gentlemen!” Miranda’s voice came from beneath the car, startling them all out of their dazed state.
James shook himself before concentrating on the area around the second shooter. There wasn’t a fallen tree near this one, so he searched the area, hoping to find something that would work. Finally, James spotted a large rock, a bit bigger than a basketball, about ten feet away. James gathered the last of his energy and surged it toward the rock. The rock trembled as his energy hit it before rolling toward the man, who was unaware of the movement. The rock hit the man in both legs, knocking him forward and away from his tree coverage.
Again, Miranda didn’t hesitate. She quickly squeezed off two more shots, hitting exactly where she wished to place them, one to the heart, one to the head. This one didn’t even get a last shot off before falling to the ground. Miranda scrambled out from under the car, keeping her gun trained on the two men as she and Mitch, who wasn’t about to let her go out of cover by herself, moved to check the men. Once satisfied they were in fact dead, Miranda switched the safety on and motioned to the others that everything was fine.
“They were the last two. There’s no telling if Cabela had them posted out here or if they were just late for the ceremony and got here just in time to see us destroy the compound. What are we going to do with the bodies?” Miranda asked as she went through the guy’s pockets and examined the guns they had used. After gathering all the ammunition they had on them and pulling the cash they had on them from their wallets, she turned back to her new family. She stopped short when she realized that they were all staring at her. “What?”
Finally, Mitch asked the questions that were going through all their minds. “What are you doing with their guns and their money?”
Miranda looked down at the guns and cash she had in her hands before looking back up at them. “I’m keeping their guns because I like them. I’ve always been partial to the Smith and Wesson 9mm and the Walther P99, which these are. In fact, I’m the one who picked out the weaponry for the coven because I knew the most about it. My dad is an avid gun collector and taught me all about it, including how to shoot. It was our “father-daughter” time. I’ll have to regrind the bore so nothing they did will come back to me, but otherwise they’re really good guns.”
“And the money?”
“Well, they don’t need it anymore. Besides, both of these guys have been my managers at work. Because Cabela required a fifty percent tithe, my income was really small, but these guys took even more, something I think Cabela didn’t know. Basically, if I made a hundred dollars, I got to keep thirty of it. I figure I’m just taking back what they stole from me, though this doesn’t cover anywhere near that amount. If it bothers you, I’ll leave it here.”
Mitch blinked a couple of times before turning to Malcolm. As the leader of the coven, it really was up to him. Malcolm shrugged his shoulders and said, “I have no problem with it. Like she said, they don’t need it anymore, and it sounds like they owed her.” Malcolm then turned his attention back to the two bodies they needed to deal with.
Miranda hesitated before turning to Mitch. “What about you? If it bothers you, I won’t take them.”
“No, baby, it’s okay. I was just surprised, that’s all. You have every right to take what you want from them after everything they stole from you.”
“Okay, as long as you’re all sure it’s okay,” Miranda said hesitantly, glancing around the group.
Everyone nodded in reassurance.
“Now that that’s settled, anyone have any ideas on how to handle Frick and Frack?”
Miranda startled everyone when she began howling in l
aughter at what Malcolm had said, followed shortly by Mitch, who’d pulled the reason from her mind. When he could, Mitch explained, “Their names were Rick and Jack.” The rest of the group began chuckling at the unintended rhyme.
After the merriment died off, they still stood there, staring at the two bodies. “I wish Roman was here. He could just incinerate them,” muttered James, referring to one of his coven members who hadn’t been able to join them.
Miranda turned to Mitch and said, “You mentioned you could do other offensive things. What are they?”
“I can throw balls of energy that immobilize the target, and I’m able to call down lightning to strike where I wish. A few other minor things, but those are the major things. I’m more of an electrical wizard than anything.”
“Do you have to have a storm nearby to call down a lightning bolt?”
“No, why?”
“Why not use lightning to incinerate them? Will that work?”
Mitch thought about it for a minute, glancing around the area. “Yeah, that would work, though we’ll need to move the bodies into the center of the clearing so we don’t set the trees on fire. I don’t use the bolt in battle much because I can’t hit moving targets, just stationary ones. Good thinking, Miranda.”
Miranda smiled in thanks, proud she’d come up with the idea. She joined the three men in dragging the two bodies into the center of the clearing, as Mitch had indicated. The five of them stepped back, allowing Mitch to concentrate. Miranda could feel the power beginning to swirl around her. She peeked into her link with Mitch, not wanting to distract him. He was tired and getting frustrated, unsure whether he had enough power left to do what they needed. Miranda immediately stepped up behind him, placing both of her hands on his shoulders, and began pouring her own power into him. They could tell immediately that the stream tripled in strength. Mitch allowed it to swirl for several seconds before thrusting his hands in the air. A sharp crack echoed from the sky above as a massive bolt of lightning blasted down through the air and struck the two bodies. There was a strange sizzling sound, and then a cloud of noxious odor emitted from the target area. The bolt dissipated, though it took several seconds for their eyes to recover from the sudden brightness. Once they were able, they could see a massive black mark on the ground where the bodies had been, but that was all. The bodies were no more.
