by Maaja Wentz
Was this another magic spell or was the wind at Tonya’s back carrying away the sound?
Without warning, Aunt Helen hefted a two-by-four and swung it at the young woman, knocking her to the ground.
She didn’t move. Was she okay?
Tonya wanted to help but Aunt Helen was returning fast. Tonya dashed to reach the house before she was seen. Who knew what she would do to a witness?
Tonya skinned in with moments to spare and ran to the kitchen. She pulled a knife from the butcher’s block, slid it into her purse, then ran back to the living room. She leaned on the sofa panting and watching the window for her aunt.
On the table, the sandwich sat untouched, staring up at her as if it had seen everything and was thinking of informing on her.
Her aunt breezed in and glanced at the sandwich.
“You didn’t eat it, good. That means we can go.”
Tonya didn’t move.
“Now.”
Tonya tried to think of some way to stall so she could figure out whether the woman was still alive.
“I have to make a call first.” The moment Priya gave her Drake’s number, Tonya had learned it by heart.
“Why didn’t you call while I was outside?” Her Aunt glared.
“Can I have my phone back now?”
“Forget the phone. We’re going back to civilization.”
“Good. I’m worried about Priya.”
“I mean Toronto.”
Would driving Aunt Helen make her an accomplice? “I don’t care where we go, as long as we stop for lunch soon.” When they did, she planned to escape.
Her aunt made her drive for an hour before she finally relented and let her stop at a sandwich shop. At first, Tonya thought her aunt would stay in the car for fear of being recognized but then it dawned on her. On an isolated farm, the victim might not be discovered for days. Her aunt was safe as long as Tonya didn’t blab.
She had to get a message to Drake.
It was oddly calm in the restaurant, where patrons smiled and chatted as they waited for counter staff to make their sandwiches. Tonya lined up with Aunt Helen until it was their turn to order.
“Choose something for me? I gotta go.” She ran off to the washroom.
Once inside, she waved a twenty-dollar bill at a woman wearing blue eyeshadow. “Could I please borrow your phone? It’s just one text, but it’s gonna save my life.”
“One moment.” The lady was lathering her hands over and over. Next, she rinsed thoroughly and left the water running while she dried her hands and shut off the tap with the used paper towel.
“Please, it’s urgent.” Tonya looked over her shoulder, certain that Aunt Helen would come in any second.
The lady rummaged in her purse. “There we go. Nice and clean.” She took the twenty and handed Tonya her phone.
Tonya ducked into a bathroom stall before the lady could protest. “This is top secret.” She wasn’t taking any chances her aunt would catch her texting.
Tonya sent Drake an SOS message with her last known address and the approximate location of the sandwich shop.
“Hey! The woman’s voice rose. “You are not going to pee with my phone in your hand!”
“Don’t get upset.” Tonya finished quickly and passed it back under the stall door.
“You are disgusting!”
Tonya heard her stomp toward the door. “I’m sorry.”
“Oh yes, and why is that?” It was her aunt’s voice.
How long had she been in the bathroom? What had she seen?
“I’m having stomach problems.”
“I got your lunch. We have to go.”
“Coming.” She flushed the toilet, twice for realism, and opened the door. Helen stood right outside the stall, arms crossed.
It was hard not to flinch. Tonya half expected her aunt to aim the next curse or two-by-four at her head.
Aunt Helen stepped aside to let Tonya wash her hands but hovered over her shoulder. “Quick like a bunny.”
In the mirror, Tonya could see the snaky glitter in her aunt’s eyes. She lathered and rinsed as slowly as she dared but who was she fooling? Tonya could pretend to be sick or she could try to refuse, but her aunt would still make her drive to Toronto.
BACCHIC LARD FEST
The Entity flexed its roots in delicious ecstasy, absorbing the fat of decomposing acolytes. At last it could see through their eyes—and what a glorious scene! There was an eating orgy in the graveyard. Teenagers scarfed down pizzas amid the tombstones while a group of ambulance drivers lay atop the autumn leaves, gorging themselves on tubs of lard. The pace of eating increased. Attendants threw away their spoons, cast off their shirts, and started licking lard off each other’s hands, arms, and chests. It wouldn’t be long now until they passed out in the leaves, sacrificing their adipose to the Entity.
Silent to the living ear, there rose a cacophony of subterranean thoughts, over which the Entity’s voice rose exponentially. Soon when it spoke, none would disobey.
Excited at its rising powers, the Entity raised fruiting bodies into the air, allowing the crisp breeze to caress and tease them. When the fruiting bodies matured, they would scatter spores. In cemeteries downwind, new gravedigger fungi would blossom, seeking defunct flesh as in ancient times. Each new gravedigger a supernatural wonder, whispering telepathic warnings to the living.
It might reproduce in the usual way, but this was no ordinary gravedigger fungus. Dark forces had engineered it to do much more than spook the nervous. Brooding at its center lay something out of harmony with the power it had conglomerated. Pushing aside the playful thoughts of once-youths and once-adults, and overwhelming the intellect of the once-living Professor Rudolph, a new voice soared within.
Rising from his tomb, nestled inside the very tap root of the Entity, thrummed the First Voice. It was time for the originator of this supernatural entity to harness the growing collective consciousness into a more powerful incarnation. His years of waiting were almost over.
I am rising!
The voice resonated through the minds of the dead below and the still-living on the grass above. Fruiting bodies withered and withdrew underground, repelled by death magic. Even the ambulance attendants paused in their slippery frolic. All eyes turned inward. Every thought and desire snapped into sharp focus. The collective mind became one, and in that mind one thought resonated through the rooted ground, and the wind-whipped sky above:
I am Jack Waldock!
THEIR GOOSE IS COOKED
Zain drove Drake away from the police station in a rented Mazda Six. “I am so going to put all this into a movie.” Zain pointed at the trees with one hand. “We should do a thriller, and a horror flick.”
“Without a camera?”
“A minor setback. We could tell one scary-assed story with what’s backed up in the cloud. Plus, Loon Lake is trending. People are posting clips of to-the-death food fights and graveyard eating binges everywhere!”
“What do we do for a star?” asked Drake.
“How about that crazy girl, wandering around in a yellow Hazmat suit, shouting into a megaphone?”
“Tonya?”
“I’ve seen how you two look at each other. Pucker those lips and she’d give you a close-up.” Zain smirked.
“Tonya!” Drake rummaged through his bag of personal possessions and pulled out his phone. “She sent me a really long text message.”
“Something scandalous?” Zain wiggled his eyebrows.
“Tonya’s been taken by her aunt and forced to drive to Toronto.”
“Lucky her,” said Zain. “If they get around the quarantine they’ll be safe.”
“Tonya says Helen brainwashed her parents and sent them to Australia. She saw her aunt murder a woman with a plank. We have to find her!”
“We should tell the police like responsible citizens.”
“After what I just lived through, I don’t think the police will help.”
“Phone the Army?”
“Stop being a chicken.”
“All right, Duck. It’s a wild goose chase but I’m game till the feathers hit the fan. Let’s get the girls and fly the coop.”
HARD TO STOMACH
Tonya didn’t send Drake a message expecting rescue but who else could she trust? When she warned everyone to stay out of the cemetery Halloween night, only he had believed her. For all she knew, he was the one person on campus who wasn’t infected. She didn’t put it in the text, but if she disappeared, she was counting on Drake to be a witness who could tell her parents and the authorities about Aunt Helen.
Drake wouldn’t give up. She knew he would search for her, but how could he find a moving target? Once they got in the car, Tonya would be miles from the sandwich shop. She had to escape her aunt, but the powerful witch would not be easy to cross. Would Aunt Helen see her hands trembling? Would she look into her mind and see her niece’s intentions before she could act?
Tonya went to the driver’s side of the car and pulled the knife out of her purse. She stooped, punctured the tire, and got in quickly, hoping her aunt didn’t notice.
Aunt Helen got in beside her. “Drive.”
They barely made it out of the parking lot.
Hours later, standing beside the desolate road shivering, Tonya wondered if it had been a mistake. The sandwich shop behind them was closed. While all traces of warmth leeched out of Tonya’s toes and fingers, they stood staring at the crippled car. If they stayed outside all night, would they get hypothermia?
“Nonsense. You are perfectly dry and wearing a heavy coat,” said Aunt Helen.
“You can read my thoughts?”
“Only when you move your lips.”
Tonya looked at her aunt to see if she was joking. “What am I thinking now? Have I stopped moving my lips?”
“Barely, but it doesn’t take a mind reader to know you slashed my tire.”
“I don’t want to go to Toronto.”
Her aunt tsk-tsked. “You could have just said something.”
“Would you have listened?”
It was late afternoon, but night was falling early. Long shadows obscured her aunt’s features. “You’re afraid of me.”
“Should I be?” Tonya hoped her suspicions were wrong.
“You must have seen something at the farm.”
“So, you admit it.”
“What?”
“You killed that woman.”
“Is that what you think?”
They stood facing the road, saying nothing. Not one vehicle passed.
Eventually, Tonya broke the silence. “I’m trying to understand why you need me in Toronto.”
“For your own protection. On campus, you’ll get infected.”
“How do you know I’m not sick already?”
“You didn’t eat the sandwich.”
“Sure I did.”
“The sandwich at the farm house.”
“Why did you attack that woman?”
“I have enemies.”
“You brought me into that lady’s house and killed her while I was sitting in her living room!”
“Clearly not, if you were watching me.”
“What if I do trust you had your reasons and agree to go with you?” Tonya watched her aunt’s face, but there was no reaction. “Use your magic to fix the tire and we can leave. It’s freezing out here.”
“You’re not hungry anymore?”
“We ate lunch at 4:30.”
“I’ll call the Auto Club.”
“Tire rubber is natural. It’s made from trees. Can’t you cure it with a charm?”
Her aunt shook her head.
“I thought healing was your specialty.”
“I’m too sick, thanks to my enemies.”
Apparently, she couldn’t influence people over the phone either. Tonya overhead her aunt reluctantly agree to an Auto Club membership before they would send a tow truck.
Tonya and her aunt sat inside the car with the seats tilted back. Tonya stared through the windshield at the sky. The cold clear day had transformed into a frigid, starry night. Tonya searched for something to say.
“I’m really sorry about this.” She was still waiting for a response when, by the light of the rising moon, she noticed her aunt had fallen asleep.
To the south, the bright lights of a yellow sports car crested the road. The hard top was down, and she recognized a familiar bass line booming. She cracked open the car window, to be sure. It was Edgar Winter’s Frankenstein, theme song of the Digital Ninjas.
Tonya smiled to herself. Drake had come for her.
The Mazda blurred by, screeched the brakes, then reversed back. Zain was in the driver’s seat. He squeaked to a stop beside Tonya who rolled down her window.
Drake opened his door. “Get in!”
“I can’t. My aunt’s sick and alone out here.” She got out of the car and Drake came to meet her.
“I thought you were afraid of her.”
“It’s cold and she’s sick. What if she gets hypothermia?”
“I don’t understand you.”
“The tow truck should have arrived by now. I think the driver’s lost.”
Behind Drake, Zain revved the engine. “Hurry up. We’ve got zombies to flee and bagels to go!”
“Just give me a sec.” Tonya touched her aunt’s shoulder. “Wake up.”
She was slow to rouse. “Tonya?”
“I’m leaving with Zain and Drake. Come with us.”
“What?” Drake raised an eyebrow.
“I can’t leave until the tow truck arrives,” said Aunt Helen. “Why don’t you kids wait with me? I love to meet my niece’s friends.”
Drake shot Tonya an incredulous look.
Tonya couldn’t tell if Aunt Helen used her powers of persuasion, but Zain got out of the car and whispered something in Drake’s ear.
Drake stood, visibly more relaxed. He poked his head in Tonya’s window and spoke to Aunt Helen. “It’s good to finally meet you. My condolences about your shop.”
It was awkward. While Tonya and Aunt Helen sat in the front seat chatting, Drake sat in the back. He kept shooting Tonya glances in the rear-view mirror, as if to reassure himself she was okay. Eventually it got so blatant her aunt whispered, “I know that boy’s sweet on you but are you sure he’s right in the head?”
“At least he cares about me.”
That earned her a grin from Drake, but Zain remained outside, preferring to speak to them through Tonya’s window.
“Have you heard from Priya?” Tonya asked.
The guys described how their escape from the food riot had led to a high-speed chase with Officer Hungry which landed them in a pond.
“The inmates nibbled on him in jail,” said Zain, “like getting a fish pedicure, but with less nail polish and more screaming.”
“Are you hurt?” Tonya reached for Drake’s arm.
“I’m fine.”
“You must be traumatized.”
“Not after watching three hundred zombie movies.” Zain struck a heroic pose. “We’re desensitized and ready for anything!”
Drake smiled grimly.
“It seems like everybody in uniform is against us,” said Tonya.
“Which is why we should leave,” said Aunt Helen.
“How do we know things won’t be worse in Toronto?” Tonya laced and unlaced her fingers.
“Jack’s getting close to critical mass.”
“Jack?” Zain stroked his chin.
“Local history.” Aunt Helen sighed.
“Tell us.” Drake smoothed his hand over his bandaged wrist.
Aunt Helen looked away. “I can’t.”
“It’s too late to keep secrets. Priya’s already seen a demonstration of my powers and Drake believes.”
“We want to help,” said Drake.
“Do you know what happens to outsiders who know about magic?”
Drake nodded.
Helen sighed. “There used to
be rules. In my day, you’d never see cursed Mundanes wandering the streets. Waldock’s supporters will do anything.”
“You’re powerful enough to stop them,” said Tonya.
“Don’t flatter me.”
“I’ve heard the stories. At seventeen, you could make your parents do anything.”
“Hardly. I made them scrap curfew, write a few school notes.”
“You made them buy you a prom dress they couldn’t afford.”
“Big mistake. We wound up living on baloney and beans for months while they paid in installments.”
“Why didn’t you use magic to earn the money?” asked Drake.
“The Trads were running Loon Lake then, too.”
“Nobody can use magic for profit, or in front of Mundanes,” said Tonya.
“I bet you learned your lesson,” said Drake.
Tonya scoffed. “My first day of high school, the Phys. Ed. teacher tried to have me removed from her class. Said she’d never teach anyone from our family again.”
“I may have influenced a few A’s.”
“You never went to class.”
“My parents turned on me. They took me to see Bartholomew Waldock, then mayor, who insisted I be expelled.”
“Waldock? Isn’t that . . .”
“A month later, Waldock’s son Jack came and paid me a visit. I was crazy bored from being kept home, and he was strong and handsome. Together, we discovered all sorts of interesting ways to spend my time.”
“You dated Jack Waldock?” Tonya’s jaw dropped.
“If I saw him tomorrow, I’d bury him.”
Zain asked, “Why?”
“The first time didn’t take, which is why I might need your help.”
“I can’t.” said Tonya. This is a problem for City Hall, not us.”
“The mayor is a hardcore Trad. He won’t use magic to stop the Entity, which is Jack’s way back from the dead.”
Drake gasped.
Zain cocked his head. “How do you know he can come back?”
“He has help. Tonya, you’ve met his crony, Len? When they were young, Jack’s powers grew with every corpse Len snatched for him, until they became too dangerous to criticize. Waldock specialized in mind control and Len used dark magic to conjure fire. I tried to help people fight back with fire charms but Waldock could get into people’s heads and make them forget to use them. By the time I put him down, I had no choice. Loon Lake was living in fear.”
