The Conjuring Glass

by Brian Knight

  The glowing lines closed into a single vertical line again, then burned out, and he was gone.

  Penny fainted.

  Chapter 20

  Unanswered Questions

  Penny awoke to a tug on her arm, and the pressure of sharp teeth pinching her flesh. She didn’t want to wake up. She was comfortable, the residual pain from the spells that had hit her was fading, and the world was no longer spinning out of control, swapping earth and sky, trying to buck her off.

  “Nuh-huh,” she mumbled, pushing against the furry muzzle that closed on her arm.

  The teeth let go of her arm, but continued tugging on the sleeve of her robe.

  “Come on, Little Red. You have to go.” The voice, muffled slightly by a mouthful of cloth, was familiar and welcome. She wanted to ask Ronan where he’d been, she hadn’t seen him for weeks, but the desire to sleep was stronger. She’d ask him later.

  “Penny, wake up!”

  She felt hands on her shoulders, lifting her from the ground, supporting her in an uncomfortable sitting position—and the last scraps of a happy dream, one where her father came to help her get rid of The Birdman, slid away. Penny opened her eyes.

  She saw Zoe, still holding her shoulders, Tovar’s black wand stuck in the waistband of her jeans. Her pale, frightened face relaxed a bit. Sitting next to her, Ronan barked in excitement and leapt into Penny’s lap, bathing her cheek with wet licks.

  The last of her lingering confusion departed. Penny remembered where they were, and what had happened.

  They had done it, faced Tovar, not The Red, but The Birdman, and won.

  Penny pulled Ronan close with one arm, dragged Zoe down, and hugged her with the other.

  “We did it,” she said, as much to herself as the others.

  “Yeah,” Zoe said. She sounded almost as shocked as Penny felt.

  “You did well, young ladies,” Ronan said. “Very well, but it’s time for you to go now, before Susan finds you missing.”

  Zoe broke from Penny’s arms and pulled her to her feet.

  Ronan scrambled off her lap and ran up the steep path, waiting for them at the top. “Get that mirror. We need to get you two back home. Hurry, there’s no time to waste.”

  Zoe dashed back to the closed door, stooping to pick up the mirror they’d taken from Tovar’s lair.

  Penny expected the vertigo and nausea to return when she moved, but it did not. She ran up the hill to Ronan’s side, and a few moments later Zoe came up behind them.

  While Zoe made her way down the trail, Penny knelt beside Ronan.

  “Where have you been? We really missed you…and who was that? How did he know so much about me?”

  Ronan moved closer to her, his furry snout only a few inches away from her face.

  “I cannot say, but you shouldn’t dwell on anything that trickster told you. His kind are liars and thieves.” He was silent for a moment, peeking down the dark trail toward Zoe, who stood waiting. “Yet...he was familiar with this place…you’ve seen how well he disguised himself. He’s been here before.”

  “But why?” Penny reached out, hesitated, and put a hand on Ronan’s shoulders. She had to resist the urge to pet him like a dog.

  She somehow knew that would irritate him. “Why would he come here? Why was he trying to kidnap us?”

  “To sell as slaves,” Ronan said without hesitation. “Where he comes from, human children bring a high price.”

  “He was going to sell us?” Zoe, tired of waiting alone in the dark, had joined them again. Her normally dark skin was pale in the moonlight.

  “Children can be trained…conditioned to forget freedom.” Ronan looked away from them, then slipped from beneath Penny’s hand and started down the trail again. “We have to go now.”

  They ran to catch up, Penny replaying Ronan’s words in her head. She did not entirely trust his answer.

  I cannot say did not necessarily mean I don’t know.

  As they ran, the aches of the night’s work began to settle into Penny’s bones and muscles again, and the questions continued to gnaw at her.

  How did he know so much about her?

  How did he know about her mother?

  How did he know about her father?

  They arrived to find the house still deserted, the phone ringing.

  For the second time that night, Penny rushed to pick it up. “Susan?”

  Susan’s voice blared from the speaker, not angry, but excited, and Penny had to hold the phone away from her ear.

  “No. We were upstairs…what?” She turned to Zoe and pointed at the television. “Yeah, we’re turning it on.”

  Zoe seemed frozen in place, but a nudge from Ronan got her moving. She knelt in front of the TV and turned it on. Canned laughter filled the living room.

  “Find the news.”

  Zoe flipped through channels until she found the local station, broadcasting live.

  “Yeah, okay.” Penny hung up and turned toward Zoe and Ronan, who lay curled up in front of the television. “She’ll be home soon.”

  Penny recognized the scene on the screen in front of them. It was the park, bathed by the light of dancing flames and the red strobes of fire engine lights. The giant effigy of The Birdman was wreathed in flames and tilting crazily as the House of Mirrors fell in on itself.

  The camera panned on the perky, smiling face of a local reporter.

  “…Engulfed in flames, while its owner, the magician known as Tovar The Red, is being sought in connection with the kidnapping of over a dozen children. The children remember almost nothing of their ordeal, except for their miraculous rescue from The House of Mirrors by two mysterious robed figures…”

  Penny immediately pulled her pilfered robe off, and Zoe followed suit.

  Ronan sprang to his feet and spun around to face them.

  “…Local authorities speculate that the children may have been put into trances by Tovar, an accomplished hypnotist…”

  “Were you seen?” Ronan turned his gaze from one to the other, his eyes wide and his posture tense.

  Penny shot Zoe a guilty sideways look.

  “You were,” he said, almost barked. For the first time since they’d met him, he sounded truly angry.

  “…statewide manhunt for this real life boogeyman, and the community of Dogwood rejoices tonight as its children are once again safe in the arms of their loving families. Coming only minutes after Sheriff Price’s press conference announcing the release of Gregory Hicks, whose name was cleared after an alibi witness came forward…”

  The giant birdman effigy collapsed, sending glowing embers into the night sky.

  So that’s what the press conference was about, Penny thought.

  Penny reached down and turned the television off.

  “We hid our faces, but I think Katie West recognized us.”

  Zoe nodded. “I know she did.”

  Ronan sat in front of them, his bushy tail curling around his forepaws. “Will she tell?”

  Penny wanted to say no, wanted to believe Katie would reward her rescue with discretion, but just didn’t know.

  Ronan seemed to guess that, and though he didn’t look happy about it, he spoke more kindly. “You did the right thing. You saved those children from lives of misery and enslavement, but you must be careful. No one can know. If the rest of them find out about you, The Phoenix Girls will be finished.”

  Zoe stared at him, her mouth working as if searching for a reply.

  “That book says we’re supposed to find more…more like us,” Penny said. “How are we supposed to do that if we can’t tell anyone?”

  “You are, but only when you’re sure about them. You must be able to trust them as you would a sister.” He stalked between them, heading for the hallway and the open front door. “This isn’t a game. You have a serious purpose.”

  “What is it then?” Penny followed Ronan into the hall. “Why is it? If it’s so serious, tell us what we’re supposed to be doing!”

&nb
sp; Ronan turned to regard her again, but chose not to answer.

  “How do we know when we’ve found the right person?”

  “When you’ve found the right person, you will know,” Ronan said. “How about this Katie?”

  Penny and Zoe faced each other, Zoe actually grinning, though a little sourly.

  “I don’t think so,” Penny said.

  “Not a chance,” Zoe said.

  Ronan shrugged, a very human gesture, Penny thought. “Then you better hope she’s grateful enough to keep your secret.”

  He regarded them for a moment more, then flashed his toothy grin. “You girls are full of questions, and you’ll have all the answers you’ll ever want—when the time for answers comes.”

  He sprang through the open door and vanished into darkness. His voice, fading into the distance, called back to them a final time. “For now, just be proud of what you’ve accomplished. You’ve had quite enough excitement for one night.”

  “Furry little pain in the butt,” Zoe said, but with a smile. She walked back to the living room, and Penny heard the TV again.

  Penny agreed. She’d had more than enough excitement for one night, but she thought sleep would be hard to find. Of all the questions Ronan had answered, it was the unanswered ones that continued to trouble her.

  Chapter 21

  The Third Phoenix Girl

  Halloween night saw the streets of Dogwood overrun with trick-or-treaters, and though more adults than usual walked with them and stood guard at every street corner, there was no fear. Only the giddy, harmless frights of Halloween haunted houses and the usual assortment of kid-sized monsters.

  Penny and Zoe were allowed to go around alone, as long as they returned to Sullivan’s, which Susan had kept open late to hand out Halloween treats, every now and then.

  This season’s most popular costumes were robes, red and green mostly, worn in homage to the mysterious Dogwood witches who had gained an almost mythic status since the fair.

  Though the stories behind the rescue varied wildly depending on whom you talked to, most agreed that the mysterious green and red clad rescuers were nothing more than childish fancy. The local kids had rallied around the myth and made it their own though.

  Penny and Zoe did not wear red and green; they had dressed for the night in the black dresses and pointed hats of the traditional Halloween witch.

  They were confident that the only person in Dogwood who had recognized them that night had kept quiet about what she’d seen, but there was no need to push their luck.

  And speaking of Katie West, their unlikely helper that night three weeks ago…

  “Hey, Zoe.” Penny nudged Zoe and nodded down the street toward a group of girls congregated around a tall stuffed man in red. An effigy of the magician, Tovar.

  Some of the girls wore the red and green robes that were the season’s fad. They took turns whacking the stuffed man in red with bats, laughing or crying out in an almost savage glee as they did so.

  One girl stood apart from the others. She wore no costume at all, and seemed rather bored with the fun and games the others enjoyed. She watched Penny and Zoe as they approached, then with a last look back at her old friends, walked away.

  The group she’d been with did not follow her, but only gave her the shortest of considerations before returning to their game.

  Penny could see candy spilling from the red man’s side where the latest blows had torn it open.

  “Hey, little bro.” A voice Penny recognized but couldn’t immediately place startled her. “It’s the little red monster and her faithful sidekick.”

  Penny and Zoe turned in unison to find Rooster and his older brother standing a few feet behind them. Rooster looked like a pint-sized race car driver in his white‐and-red‐striped leather pants and jacket. His helmet was too big for his head and tilted awkwardly to the left. It was white with red stars.

  They could see only his eyes through the visor, but they were wide with amusement. “Even with your pathetic godmother giving away candy to half the kids in town you can’t get anyone else to hang out with you.”

  “Don’t seem to be fitting in too well,” Rooster’s brother said, false concern on his face. “It’s a shame.”

  “Maybe you should hop on your brooms and fly away,” Rooster said, chuckling.

  Penny’s right hand inched toward the opening of the candy bag in her left, toward her concealed wand.

  Zoe nudged her with an elbow, and gave her head a barely perceptible shake.

  Rooster saw this and laughed louder. “What’re you gonna do, throw candy at me?”

  New laughter joined, then drowned out Rooster’s, and the four of them, Penny and Zoe, Rooster and his brother, turned to see who’d joined them.

  It was Katie West, walking past the demolished and now abandoned piñata. She approached them with a casual stride, shaking with laughter.

  Penny felt herself blush, felt tears of rage threaten to come spilling out. After everything they’d done, after saving her, this was how Katie repaid them?

  Next to her, Zoe stiffened, and this time Penny had to grab her arm to keep her from grabbing her hidden wand.

  Then Katie said something that made Penny’s jaw drop.

  “Look at you,” she nearly doubled over with an intense burst of giggles, and pointed past Penny and Zoe, right at Rooster. “WiddleWeebleKniebel…all revved up and nothing to jump!”

  Zoe’s high, surprised laughter joined Katie’s, and Penny turned to see Rooster’s reaction.

  He said nothing, his eyes narrowing behind the visor. The helmet slid a little further over his face, and then she could see only his nose and the sneering set of his upper lip.

  Even his brother was speechless, though his cool and disapproving glare shifted from Penny to Katie.

  “Where’s your widdlebikey?” Katie stopped between Penny and Zoe, finally giving in completely to her laughter. She gripped a handful of Penny’s black witch’s robe to keep from falling to her knees.

  Penny’s own laughter surprised her, and soon she was struggling to stay upright too,

  “Shut up!” Rooster shouted from under his helmet. His voice was high-pitched with embarrassment and muffled.

  The three girls burst into freshly renewed laughter, clutching each other awkwardly to stay on their feet.

  “Oh … don’t move Rooster. I need a picture of this.” Katie pulled her cell phone from her jeans pocket, but before she’d opened it to take his picture, Rooster was running away.

  His brother, tall, composed, intimidating, only smiled at them. It was a tight-lipped and humorless expression.

  “That wasn’t very nice, West. You should know better than that.” He turned his chilly expression on Zoe and Penny in turn. “Don’t get too comfortable in Dogwood, Little Red.”

  Then he turned and followed Rooster’s rapidly retreating form.

  When he’d turned the corner around the block, vanishing from their sight, the girl’s laughter began to taper off. When it finally died out, Katie took a step back from Penny and Zoe, her eyes darting between them. The expression on her face was strange, almost alien, and Penny decided after a few seconds contemplation that it looked alien because, for the first time, it was anxious rather than scornful.

  “Hi, Penny, Zoe.”

  “Hi,” Penny said, still more wary than hopeful. This girl had hated her only a month before, and for nothing she had ever done.

  Zoe said nothing, just stood back a step and watched Katie. Now that the laughter was over, her reflexive wariness of Katie had returned.

  “Listen, I know it was you,” Katie said, keeping her voice low.

  Penny sighed and braced herself. This is what she’d been afraid of since that night in the park when Katie had seen her face beneath the hood.

  “I’m sorry about…” she struggled with the apology, and the petty satisfaction Penny would have expected did not come.

  “I won’t tell anyone if you don’t want me to.
I’m sorry,” she said again, then, “thanks.”

  Penny sighed again, this time in relief.

  “It’s okay,” Zoe said. “Don’t mention it.”

  “Yeah,” Penny agreed. “Forget about it.”

  Katie’s unease wilted slowly, and she smiled.

  Then her eyes shifted down toward the sidewalk behind them, grew wide, shocked, and she slapped her hands over her mouth to stifle a scream.

  Penny and Zoe spun, hands going instinctively for their hidden wands, and saw Ronan sitting behind them, grinning up at them and shaking his furry head from side to side.

  “Why does everyone scream the first time they see me?”

  Penny and Zoe shifted their gazes from Ronan, to Katie, to Ronan again, then looked at each other and smiled.

  “It talks?” Katie asked in a weak voice.

  Zoe laughed. “He does more than talk.”

  Penny smiled too, then laughed when Katie returned her smile with an uneasy one of her own.

  All of the worries and questions about her long absent father and The Birdman’s insinuations about her mother fled for a time, replaced by the simple joy of a new friendship, and the anticipation of adventures, and magic, yet to come.

  The end… for now.

  About Brian Knight

  Brian Knight lives in Washington State with his family and the voices in his head. Brian has published over a dozen novels and novellas and two short story collections in the horror, dark fantasy, and crime genres. Several of his short stories have received honorable mentions in Year's Best Fantasy and Horror. The Phoenix Girls Book 1 — The Conjuring Glass is his first young adult work.

  Photo by Judi Key