by Harper Lin
I looked at the clock and saw it was nearly ten. I had to prepare, and if I was going through with meeting the class bully at the clearing by the top of the waterfall, I wanted to get there first. Hopefully, my little plan would work, and I could be back at my aunt’s house before one o’clock and tell Aunt Astrid and Bea that Jennifer was no longer a problem. I quietly cracked the door and listened again.
“Why would Cath accept a fight like this? Without us? Without our help? She’s never done anything like this before?” I could hear the hurt in Bea’s voice. It made me feel worse than the lying did.
Aunt Astrid replaced the teakettle on the stove for the third time. The click, click, click of the burner kicking on sounded like a cricket from where I was standing. “I don’t know what she could be thinking, but we have to respect it. Although we’re all family, she is still an orphan, and I don’t think she’ll ever not feel that desire to prove herself.”
“She doesn’t have to prove anything to us,” Bea said. “Why would she think that?”
“Because she’s so good. She doesn’t want to be a burden or a victim or anything less than a true Greenstone woman. No matter how stubborn that may make her.”
I’d heard enough. I had to leave and do this on my own. I quietly slipped out of the bedroom door, down the hallway, and to the front door.
Waterfalls
Before I could leave, I was confronted with Marshmallow, who stood there in all her puffed-up glory looking right at me. Behind her, Peanut Butter chased a rainbow prism on the ground that came from the lamp on my aunt’s roll top desk.
“And where are you going?” Marshmallow asked.
“I’m going to get Treacle.”
Marshmallow purred quietly. “Take me with you.”
“No. And don’t sound the alarm until I’m good and gone.”
“Is it dangerous… what you’re doing?”
“Yes.”
“Will you come back?”
“I sure hope so.”
Marshmallow rubbed up against my leg then stepped back, sitting on her haunches and looking at me through little slitted eyes. “I’ll be right here when you and Treacle come home.”
All I could do was smile. I opened the front door, slipped out, and pulled it tightly shut behind me.
The air felt colder than usual, and I wished I had a jacket. I would like to think the cold was what made me shake as I got into my car, started it up, and pulled out of the driveway without turning on the headlights. Once I was three houses away, I hit the lights and the gas and began my journey to the waterfall.
I saw a calico cat peering at me from the area of the woods where Treacle had run. Was the calico just a stray, or someone’s furry companion out for an evening adventure? Or was it one of hers?
“It’s not Treacle. There’s still hope. That isn’t him, and as long as I don’t see him around, I can assume she doesn’t have him. And if she doesn’t, then she’s just a hack witch with a bad attitude.” The words sounded braver than I felt.
The dark street unfolded in front of me like an innocent set of rollercoaster tracks… the ones that led you up, up, up. They weren’t threatening. There was nothing scary about those bits of track. The view was usually very pretty until you realized those tracks had led you to terror.
“Come on, Cath. You’ve got a plan. Stop freaking yourself out,” I said out loud, hoping I’d listen to me and toughen up.
It usually took about twenty minutes to get to the waterfall clearing by car. If I wanted to play it extra safe, I’d park the car and take the path that, in the daytime, took about thirty minutes to maneuver. It was wide and well-marked, so I was pretty confident I would still get to the clearing before Jennifer with enough time to prepare.
I parked the car at a gravel turn-in where Wonder Falls Water Works vehicles and Wonder Falls Department of Streets and Sanitation trucks would park for their surveys and sometimes to nap. My car was barely visible from the street.
I grabbed a bottle of water that I had in the car and began to walk. The path was just ahead, and I was able to find it easily by the light from the streets. Once I was on it, though, the path became very dark, very fast.
The night was perfectly clear, and high in the sky, a beautiful third-quarter moon seemed to welcome the millions of stars around it. Stopping for a moment, I listened and heard a wild and comforting choir of crickets. I was ready to start running if the sounds of nature stopped, but so far, it was just a regular night. Within minutes, I heard the sound of the waterfall in the distance. With each step, it grew louder and louder.
Finally, I saw the slope in the path begin to level out, and up ahead was the beautiful, flat clearing where the river lazily drifted past only to pick up speed in the distance in its hurry to get to the waterfall. The water wasn’t that deep along the edges. Many people would stand on the bank in waders and fish. But the river did get deep in the center and at times, after the rains, the undertow would try to claim a victim or two.
Arriving at the center of the clearing, I knelt down. I began to finish the chant I had started at my aunt’s house. This was part two, and I needed my hands in the dirt of this place, some water to mix, and just a couple of ancient words that were pretty to say and simple in concept. I wasn’t looking for complicated.
I stood up, again greeting the four corners of the Earth with my hands covered in what was then sacred mud. I had one more step to complete but stopped dead in my tracks.
“Hey, who’s over there?”
I knew that voice.
No.
Defensive
Of all the times and places, Blake Samberg had to show up then.
“Blake?” I said in a hushed voice. “Is that you?”
“Cath Greenstone?” I heard his voice and suddenly saw a spot from a small flashlight not twenty feet from me. “What are you doing up here at this hour?” he asked, strolling my way.
“I thought there was supposed to be a meteor shower tonight. I came up here to get a front row seat, so to speak,” I said nervously as the flashlight lit up almost everything around me. “But you can’t see a thing with that flashlight. Maybe you should douse it, you know?”
“No, you won’t miss anything. It’s next week. Actually, Jake said this was a good place for stargazing. I didn’t know you were interested in astronomy.” He shifted from his left foot to his right as he stood close to me. The soft glow of the flashlight lit his face, and I noticed what looked like a smile on his face.
“You have no idea.” I looked up at the stars that had helped me find my way home on more than one occasion, as well as fight a demon once. That was another long story for another time. “I think I’ll be going now.”
“I didn’t see a car pull up. Did you take the path up here?” Blake asked. He sure was talkative.
“Yes. I felt like walking, sort of taking the path less traveled, you know? But I think I’ll be heading back now.”
“Well, let me give you a ride.”
“No. That’s not necessary.”
“You don’t want to walk that path in the dark. You could slip and fall.” He shined his flashlight on me and saw my hands covered in mud. “Or did you already?”
I held them up in front of me, shrugging.
“Yeah, you know how clumsy I am. Just ask Bea.” It was all I could think of to say.
“All the more reason you shouldn’t walk back.”
“Look, I know you’re trying to help, but I don’t need any help.”
“From the looks of it, you really do.”
“This isn’t the time or place, Blake, for you to get all police-y on me. I’m a big girl. It isn’t a crime to fall in the mud.”
“Why are you getting so defensive?”
“I’m not defensive.”
“You sound like it.”
“Well, that shows how much you know. Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to wash my hands in the water and be on my way.”
“Leaning over the banks a
t night is also dangerous. Let me get you a bottle of water from the car, and you can wash your hands with that.”
“Fine. If it will make you happy.”
“It would. Just wait here.”
I watched as Blake’s flashlight bounced along the ground a good couple of yards from where I was standing. Quickly, I hurried to the water’s edge. No sooner was I on my knees, bent down, and reaching for the water, than I heard another familiar voice.
“Isn’t this nice?” Her voice was low and menacing, like the growl of a hungry animal. “You get here early and bring the police.”
I whipped around and got to my feet. My hands were still caked with mud. I just needed a drop, one single drop from the river to complete my spell. But Jennifer had other ideas. I quickly stepped to the side to get myself in between Jennifer and Blake.
“He was here when I got here. Leave him out of it.” I tried to appeal to her logical side, if she had one. “He’s a cop. You don’t want to be known as a cop killer,” I said, making a design in the dirt with my foot.
“What is that you’re doing? Some kind of binding spell?”
If I lived through this ordeal, I’d be sure to tell Aunt Astrid she’d nailed that one. Miss Paranoia would have sniffed out a binding spell from thirty miles away.
“No.” I quickly glanced behind me in the direction Blake had walked. I still saw the light from his flashlight aimed away from me and in the trunk of his car.
“What are you looking for? Did you bring other people here, too? Maybe Brit is with you or your aunt. Who’s back there besides that cop?”
I didn’t say anything. I was trying to concentrate and find the right words. But when Jennifer stepped closer to me, I saw her face clearer than I’d ever wanted to.
Her cheeks were high and chiseled. Her mouth was covered in thick, red lipstick, and her eyes were plain, milky white holes in her face. I couldn’t help but gasp.
“I’ll tear you to shreds,” she hissed.
“Cath? You okay?” Blake yelled.
“Do not keep until the frost. Time to sleep when time is lost,” I muttered quickly, pointing in the direction Blake had called from. Within a few seconds, I heard the gentle thud of a body hitting the ground. He was asleep. His catnap would last a little while and buy me some time.
“Your boyfriend?”
My cheeks flushed. Anger surged through me because I knew even in the dark, Jennifer could feel my embarrassment, and she enjoyed it.
But I had to stay in control. My plan was so simple, and all I needed was some water and a little luck.
I started to inch my way toward the riverbank but was frozen in place when Jennifer grinned a wide grimace of sharpened teeth. The moon bounced off of them and gave her an almost translucent look. She growled a low, feral-sounding grunt, and I began to shake.
“I’ll tear you apart, but only after I have my fun with that man married to your cousin.”
Jake. No!
“I’ll drive his wife mad. Hearing noises, seeing things, and late-night visitations from some of the more aggressive entities should send her off the deep end quite nicely.”
“You stay away from my family!”
“Well, aren’t you scary?” She waved her hand, and I felt as if I had just been punched in the gut. I reeled backward only to lose my balance and fall on my butt. I coughed and gagged. She came at me again, clenching her fist and yanking it in toward her check. I felt my hair being pulled by the handfuls, and I was dragged up to Jennifer’s face.
“Is this all you’ve got?” I asked. “I thought you were supposed to be some kind of super witch. All you’re doing is beating me up without using your hands. Any sixth-grader could do that.”
She snarled at me, her lips peeling back from her horrible teeth. Why had she done that to herself? I was reminded of the before and after pictures of drug addicts, except Jennifer depicted what sorcery did to a person. It was black, no matter what anyone said.
If Bea were there and took Jennifer’s hand, she would probably see the black legions in her brain… layers and layers of filth, clogging up her arteries and coating her organs like a parasite. But unlike a cancer or a tumor, paranormal infections are invited in. Jennifer had made an intentional transformation, and she was enjoying herself.
I was tossed another fifteen feet across the grass. I lay there panting, wondering what time it was and why the hell I hadn’t allowed my family to come and help. I almost laughed out loud at the thought, but it couldn’t get past the lump in my throat when I heard the most horrible sound.
Trying to gulp in air enough to speak, I croaked out the word. “Treacle?”
It was a quiet meow, but I heard it.
“NO!” I screamed in my head. “Run, Treacle! Hide. Don’t come here!” But I got no answer.
“Aren’t you going to even try and fight back? Don’t you have a power of any kind, or are you one of those witches who can only make flowers grow or talk to animals?” Jennifer laughed. Her white eyes scrunched into half moons as her cheeks pushed them up.
I tried muttering a spell of confusion to get her lost for a few minutes, even seconds, so I could get to the water. My head pounded, and my stomach and ribs ached terribly. But when I muttered the words, I felt the psychic vibration as it bounced right off of her. I tried a binding spell again, which was all I could think of at the moment, but it also rolled off of her like raindrops on a windshield.
Suddenly, I was yanked to my feet. Jennifer held me by my collar with one hand. She walked toward the riverbank, and my feet dragged clumsily along the ground.
“Your family will probably find your body in a couple days. And you know what the autopsy will say? Natural causes. Who would have thought someone so young, so full of life, would have such a bad ticker.” She swung me over the edge, bending my back at an unnatural angle.
I looked around as best I could and saw a sleek, black form moving along the grass.
Three Flashes
“Get away, Treacle!” I screamed in my head. “Run home! Just get home where it’s safe!” I then saw him rub against Jennifer’s leg. My eyes swelled with tears. She had him, and she was going to kill him, slowly and cruelly. My mud-crusted hand clutched her, and I sank my nails in as far as I could. “Fight her, Treacle! Remember me? I wouldn’t hurt you! Fight her!”
“Oh, I see. I got your cat,” Jennifer said. “He’s been lurking around here for a little while now while you’ve been doing anything but fighting back. He’s seen you give up. Now he’s mine.”
I coughed and cried, still clawing at her hand around my neck. I was starting to feel light-headed. With one last try, I screamed in my head, “One good swipe, Treacle!”
I think the balance between the light and the darkness had been tipped because just as I thought I was going to pass out, I heard a fierce meower-er-eow.
My cat was clawing and scraping at his own face. He hissed and arched his back with all his fur on edge. In one sudden movement, he jumped up at Jennifer’s face.
She screamed out a stream of obscenities as Treacle scratched all the way down her cheek. She dropped me to the ground, and I landed on the hard, bumpy rocks that were along the banks of the river. Just as I looked up, she waved her left hand, and my poor cat went flying into a tree, dropping to the ground with a thud.
As much as my gut pulled me toward Treacle, I reached out to the water instead. I just needed one lousy drop. Then I heard Jennifer again. She just wouldn’t shut up.
“I’ll kill you both! I’ll tear you apart! You’ll explode from the inside out just like the others!”
I scrambled with all my strength just to get a couple more inches, but Jennifer had me in her invisible vise. I felt my breath catch in my chest. My whole body was in pain, and my chest was burning. I arched backward, and with my last ounce of free will, I stretched toward the water only inches away, but it seemed like miles. My muddy hand came closer and closer to the slow-moving ripples. Finally, I felt the cold water gently k
iss the very tip of my fingers, and I muttered the words, “Coerce an unblemished soul for infinity, and let this be washed away.”
The water in the lake shot up into a fine spray. It seemed as though it went all the way up to the stars, but that may have been because the oxygen had stopped going to my brain for several minutes.
Jennifer was soaked from head to toe, and so was I. But I saw what I’d hoped to see. The Maid of the Mist.
The thing about the Maid of the Mist is that she didn’t always show up when you needed her. She showed up when she felt like it, when the cause was worthy, and when her absence would cause more harm than good.
With each drop of cold water on Jennifer’s skin, the residue of the black magic she’d been wallowing in was washed off. She didn’t know it. She didn’t feel it. But the enchanted water of the Maid of the Mist had the power to wash away what had been accumulated through false and misguided methods.
If Jennifer were a real sorceress, someone with a bloodline tied to it, then this cleansing ritual wouldn’t have worked. But she was a wannabe, a hack, a freshman self-taught in the diabolical. And the diabolical had no real use for an amateur witch.
“Great! You splashed me!” Jennifer said, unaware her powers had left her. Her eyes were still filled with hatred for me. She waved a hand, expecting to see something. When she did it again and nothing happened, her eyes became wild. She looked as if she had just emerged from a cave, with her hair straggling in a hundred different directions and her teeth gritted together.
I slowly regained my composure and looked toward where Treacle had smashed into the tree. I began to hobble in that direction.
“Stop!” Jennifer yelled. I paid no attention to her. She was just a person… a regular person with no special talents for causing heart attacks, or making people fall to the ground, or punching someone in the stomach with invisible fists.
I wanted my cat to be all right. I wanted Treacle back to the way he was.
