Gabe dismissed my concerns with a shrug. “I don’t think this is anything to worry about. After all, how many circus acts need to be set free? None, I’m guessing.” Gabe casually glanced at the spell. Suddenly, his head recoiled back. “This spell is also about bears!” His finger jabbed at a word. “Ursus? That’s Latin for bear, isn’t it?”
“Very good, werebear. You’ve got a brain as big as your dick.” Ezzy gave me a nudge. “Are you sure you wouldn’t share him?”
I ignored Ezzy’s sassy suggestion and focused on the spell. “A captive circus act, hmm. And something about bears. Could this be about one of those circus bear acts? Is that what this is about?”
“Oh… shit,” Esmeralda deadpanned. Her eyebrows arched over her widened eyes, the wand fell to the floor. It took her a few seconds to consider the consequences. I knew she wanted nothing to do with this spell when I saw the way she mimicked washing her hands. “Thank you both for the nude acrobats on fire show. It was as entertaining as it was bizarre. Goodbye and good luck, it’s been nice knowing you.”
“Hold on, Ezzy! Please.”
“Argh.” Esmeralda returned the broom to her pocket. “I probably wouldn’t have really left.” She thought about it for a few seconds. “Although I should run away from this.” She slowly rubbed her forehead. “Run like a Kenyan track star on speed.”
“Thanks for helping out, Esmeralda. It’s true! You actually do have a heart.”
Esmeralda’s smirk showed how much she appreciated Gabe’s effort to keep it light with a little humor. “Of course I have a heart. It’s a shriveled up little thing, but a heart all the same.” When it comes to gratitude, Esmeralda absolutely abhors being thanked, just as much as she hates having to apologize. She’d rather move on than to wallow in any sort of emotion.
“Yes, thanks for sticking around, Ezzy. Why are you spooked by this spell?”
“This is going to sound strange because one doesn’t normally associate witches with traveling bear circuses. Believe it or not, I know of a witch named Ursula that actually owned a real live bear circus. She was from a French noble family and a long line of witches. In the early 1600s, they had a dispute with a rival family. Get this, they were a clan of bear shifters.”
Gabe pulled out a chair and sat down. His hand stroked his forehead. “Hold on! There are other werebears out there? I always wondered.”
“Yes, there are all kinds of shifters in the world. Kelly, you really need to drag your man out of his den more. Anyway, it was Romeo and Juliet from hell. Ursula broke a serious witch’s taboo when she fell in love with a young werebear. So not only did these families hate each other, you have an illicit romance. The witch’s family declared open season on the werebears. Surprisingly, Ursula’s young lover turned out to be a real jackass when he chose to dump her. You know the drill, loyalty to his family over the witches, blah, blah, blah. Ursula was deeply hurt and seriously angry. She placed a hex on the entire werebear family. They would forever remain in bear form, never again to walk the earth as humans. She had them all captured, then she forced them to perform in a traveling circus act.”
“That was one seriously pissed off witch! So you think this spell was written to free the werebears?”
“Yes, I do think it has to do with Ursula’s bears. And if she could curse a family like that, I don’t want to find out what she would do to the witch who reversed it.”
The ringtone on Gabe’s phone blared from across the room. Ezzy and I heard concern in his voice from the moment he answered the call. We listened, trying to figure out what was going on.
“Hold on, did you say bears? Bears in Caldron Falls’ town square?” Gabe jotted something down. “Twelve bears? I’ll be right there.” After the call, he immediately turned towards us. Flabbergasted is the only word that could describe his face. “That was the sheriff. Twelve bears are in the town square.”
“Oh my God, it’s the bears in the spell.” I knew this was the start of something bad.
“Looks like I might need your help before Kelly will, Esmeralda. For now, I think you two should stay here.” Gabe zipped around the house, gathering his things. “Once I find out what this is about, I’ll call.” Gabe kissed me and took one last item from his gun cabinet. “Tranquilizer gun. I hope I won’t need it.” He jogged out the door and off the porch. A minute later, his truck roared down the driveway.
“Stay here? My ass. Let’s go, Ezzy.”
“For the record, Kelly, I’m only going along to satisfy my curiosity.”
Chapter Five
By the time Gabe’s truck sped down Main Street, we were already watching the bears. Thanks to Ezzy’s broom, we appeared on the sidewalk across the street from the town square. A conveniently parked car kept us hidden. I counted twelve large bears. They weren’t black bears like Gabe shifts into. These were huge, fierce looking beasts, perhaps grizzly bears. A few bears were kicking a soccer ball, a couple rolled and tumbled in the grass, and the rest just milled around restlessly.
Gabe passed the sheriff’s hastily prepared roadblock, parking a block away from the square. He stepped cautiously out of his truck and looked over his shoulder, with more concern about the people watching him than with the bears in front of him. That doesn’t mean he wasn’t prepared, he took the tranquilizer gun with him. “Ezzy, look at Gabe. See how he’s making sure nobody can see him? I think he’s trying to hide so he can talk to the bears, or maybe shift.”
“Twelve on one? Say goodbye to Gabe. I can’t bear to watch.”
“Not funny, Ezzy.”
“Don’t worry. We’ll be his backup.” Ezzy stroked my wand.
Gabe leaned the gun against a lamppost and crawled behind a large bush. When he reappeared, he was in bear form. Even though Gabe’s form is the smaller and peaceful North American black bear, he was hardly undersized. His paranormal ability changes him into a bear that’s three, or perhaps four, times the size of any normal black bear.
He approached the group, rose up on his hind legs, and bellowed what must’ve been a common bear greeting. The other bears rushed at him.
“Oh shit! Ezzy! Stop them.”
“I think they’re just excited to see him.”
“That, or they’re about to kick his ass. Freeze them, Ezzy!”
“I’ll try. That’s a pretty long shot, even for me.” Esmeralda steadied her wand on the hood of the car and adjusted her stance in a series of little movements. Knowing Ezzy, she was trying to show off her ability to mimic a sniper fixating on a target. Before she could get off a shot, the bears stopped in their tracks, startled by a screaming siren.
A sheriff’s squad car reeled around the corner, skidding sideways into Gabe’s truck. A young deputy leapt from the car and ran halfway to the square. She scanned the field of bears, looking for any sign of Gabe. Forming a megaphone with her cupped hands, she shouted, “Gabe! Gabe! Are you okay?” Her hands dropped to her sides when she spotted Gabe’s tranquilizer rifle. “Oh my God! They ate him!” The deputy bolted for the rifle, picked it up, and took aim at the bears. She advanced slowly into the grassy park. “Hold on, Gabe! It’s Candy! I’m coming to get you!”
“Who the fuck is Candy?” I couldn’t help myself from feeling a bit threatened by the young deputy. She was an unquestionably beautiful brunette. Her ponytail hung down from under her ball cap, and her uniform was purposefully too small, every curve of her perfect shape was on full display.
“And why is she heroically walking into a herd of grizzly bears to save your boyfriend? Hmm? Isn’t that your job?”
“No. No. I’m overreacting. She’s probably doing what any deputy would do, considering the circumstances.”
“Maybe. Candy’s pretty damn hot, though. By the way, do you call a group of bears a herd? Or is it a pack?”
Gabe stopped running at the same time as the other bears. When he saw Candy with the rifle, he waved his paws in the air, fell to all fours, and ran in her direction. Candy didn’t hesitate to pull the trigg
er. “THWACK.” A large tranquilizer dart hung from Gabe’s shoulder. He rolled over and swatted his paws at it. The drug must have been injected upon impact because his swings were awkward and feeble. He slowly laid his head down and his tongue hung uselessly from his slobbering mouth. The rest of the bears ran full speed in the opposite direction, out of town.
“Gabe! Oh my God!” I sprinted to the snoring pile of fur. “Gabe?”
“Get away from that bear! He could still hurt you.”
“You don’t understand.”
“I understand that bear was about to attack me. Now, please, get out of the area. It’s not safe.”
Other deputies arrived on the scene and pulled me away. That’s when I really lost my cool and started swinging. The next thing I knew, I was cuffed and stuffed in the back seat of a squad car. Ezzy was still observing the scene, her red hair occasionally popping up from behind the hood of the car. I hoped she had a plan to break me free.
A flatbed pickup truck hauling something like a huge piece of culvert, backed up to Gabe’s limp bear body. Large letters painted in red spelled out a warning. “Live bear trap. Stay away.” The truck had a hoist on the back, which was used to quickly lower the trap down. A group of uniformed officers attempted to drag the sleeping bear inside.
The deputy in the front seat seemed amused with the operation unfolding in the square. He had smartass written all over his face when he turned around. “So, why is a pretty city girl like you getting all worked up over a big fat bear? You one of those bear lovers trying to stop bear hunting?”
“Animal lover? You have no idea. Do you know where they are taking him?”
“Who knows? I’d have him skinned and made into one hell of a rug, but that’s just me. See that guy in the blaze orange vest and purple glasses? He’s some fuzzy-brained egghead from the university. Been studying bears up here. He must be creaming his jeans over this shit. My guess is that he’s gonna have the beast hauled down to some science lab.” The deputy turned around and shook his finger. “At taxpayer expense. You know what? It’s a goddamn bear. Where the hell do they find people who have to go to college to know what a bear is? Waste of good money right there.”
Another deputy leaned against the open window. “Hey Brian, Candy said the big bear ate Gabe. You know Gabe, the local warden. About a dozen more bears took off. The sheriff is calling up reserves and volunteers to hunt them down.”
“Jesus! See lady? That’s why we hunt bears up here. Man-eaters and a public nuisance, that’s what they are.”
“Holy smokes! Get a load of that hot chick you have back there.” The man stuck his head inside and leered at me. “How ya’ doin?”
“How does it look like I’m doing? I’m locked up in the back of a squad car. Let me ask you this? Do you have to be a special kind of dumbass to become a cop in Caldron Falls or can any asshole get the job?”
“Hey there, boys.” Esmeralda strolled up to the squad. “Take a look at what I have.” She twirled her wand like it was a miniature baton. The deputies were mesmerized by the shiny wand spinning like a pinwheel. “You will now let the girl in the back seat go. You’ll forget that you’ve seen either of us.”
The driver stepped out and opened the back door. He unlocked the handcuffs, instantly freeing me. “Keep control of them, Ezzy. I want to add something.” These guys were jerks, and I was itching to dish out a little Karma. “Both of you will now strip naked. You will be convinced you are chickens. I want to see you squat down while you walk, flap your arms like wings, and crow like roosters… for the rest of the day.” I winked at Ezzy. “That should keep them out of our hair for a while.”
I sprinted toward the bear trap just as the truck pulled out of the town square. Gabe’s hind paws dangled out of the back of the cage. Apparently, he was too big for the trap, so they could only close the trap door part of the way. Ezzy caught up with me and placed a comforting hand on my shoulder. My eyes desperately scanned the park as I considered my next move.
“Ezzy, we need to find out where that bear scientist is taking Gabe.”
“We need a local we can trust. We need to talk to Morgan.”
In the distance, a crowd gathered around the deputies. I had no doubt that dozens of video clips of the naked men and their bizarre chicken behavior would soon be going viral.
Chapter Six
My eyes happily took in all of the sights of the old mill house. I especially enjoyed finding the most familiar things, like the stone porch where I first met Gabe. Before long, I was flooded with memories of my dramatic and fun summer in Caldron Falls. Then, very unexpectedly, I became terribly sad. I wished I could go back to summer’s warm days and hot nights with Gabe.
Morgan met us on the porch, throwing her arms around me. “Kelly! It’s great to see you!” When she stepped back and saw our gloomy expressions, her mood sobered. “What happened? I can’t decide if you’re sad or just really pissed off.”
“Both. It turns out I freed some evil witch’s circus of cursed werebears. Not only did I free them, I brought them here. I put a dozen confused grizzly bears right in the town square. Gabe got shot with a tranquilizer gun… by some bitch named Candy. I got arrested for punching a cop and was forced to put up with Deputy Jack Hoff and his friend. To top it off, Doctor Frankenbear had Gabe hauled away to some research lab.” Saying it out loud only made it worse. All I could do was close my eyes and rub my temples for a bit until the smartass in me woke up. “Okay, I sound just straight up crazy now that I’ve heard myself say it.”
“Oh my God! What do we do? Can I help?”
“I hope so. I told Kelly that you might have an idea who the scientist is that’s been researching bears in the area.”
“I know exactly who you’re talking about. He came into the diner once, and only once. Some of the men, who are bear hunters, really gave him a hard time when they realized who he was. I don’t know his name, but I do remember them asking about what the researcher was doing with the bears up at the institute.”
“The institute? What the hell is that? Sounds horrible!”
“But appropriate, all things considered,” Ezzy added.
“The institute is what everyone calls the old University of Wisconsin’s Forestry Research Institute. It’s been closed down for years, but I think UW still owns it.”
“That has to be it. You’ll have to come with us, Morgan. You know the area.”
Morgan pulled at her top. “Of course. Sorry, but I was lounging around today. Let me just change out of my pajamas.” She turned around and headed out of the living room, stopping to pick up a black two-piece teddy from the back of a chair. She held up a piece in each hand. “What should I wear for later tonight, Esmeralda? The top or bottom?”
“Hmm.” Ezzy held her finger to her lip and actually gave it some thought. “Top.”
“Yes, Esmeralda.” Morgan trotted off and disappeared into the master bedroom.
“You naughty old witch.” I winked and smiled at Ezzy. “So that’s how it is for you two?”
“Nah. Just playing a little game for a couple days, then we’ll go back to our adorable selves. Oh, and if you stick around for a couple days, Luke will be coming for a little slumber party. In case you’re interested.”
“Oh no. Just no. Thank you.”
“You sure? Gabe is welcome, too, of course... provided this all works out okay.”
Morgan returned dressed in jeans, a t-shirt, and a fleece jacket. “Ready!” Ezzy took out her broom and we gathered together when Esmeralda recited the transportation spell. Morgan added the location. The crack of thunder and flash of lightning still made me jump. When the mist cleared, we stood in front of a sprawling one level wooden building. Unlike the horror movie of an abandoned asylum for the criminally insane that I truly expected, this place was actually nice. The fresh, bright white paint on the siding made it look clean and the red shingled roof was in good shape. Behind the main building, rows of greenhouses formed a square. The welcoming ap
pearance set me at ease.
“Morgan, do you know the deputy who tranqed Gabe?”
“Candy? Yeah, I know her. She grew up in Caldron Falls. She graduated high school with Gabe, as a matter of fact. But I wouldn’t worry. There’s nothing going on between those two anymore… ”
“Uh? Anymore? Ugh. I’m just not good with the ex-girlfriend that lives in the same town as Gabe, with me in Chicago. As it has been said, shit happens. And it’ll suck for me if it does.”
“Hey, I don’t really know the story there. As a matter of fact, I only heard something about how at one time those two might have had a thing. I’ve never seen them together. Actually until you came along, I’ve never known Gabe to have a steady girlfriend.”
“Ah, a man-slut. Is that right?” Ezzy quizzed Morgan, but she was actually trying to get under my skin. When it comes to men, Esmeralda always makes a point to sow a few seeds of doubt. She just doesn’t trust them, and she thinks only a fool would.
“Doesn’t matter. Really. Everyone has a life. I only concern myself with today and the future.” Who was I kidding? I saw Candy’s concern for Gabe. I also saw how beautiful she was. A fact I’d never admit to anyone. I pointed toward the green metal gate sealing off the entrance to the complex. “Let’s get moving. We need to find a way inside to see if we can locate Gabe.”
“The place looks deserted.” Morgan nodded at the late afternoon sun. “It won’t be long before the sun sets.”
Morgan pointed to a large metal building connected to the back of the main building. “I think we should go in there first. I don’t see a door, though.”
“Let’s go! Right through the front door of the first building.” Now I had the opportunity to use the one spell I’d mastered. By the way, I use that term loosely. My specialty is shooting a flaming ball from my wand like it is a steroid-fueled, fastball pitch gone wild. I’ve caused considerable property damage with that little charmer, and I hoped blasting the door open to save Gabe would offer some redemption.
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