The War on Witches

by Paul Ruditis

  He was probably expelled as well. Universities had even less tolerance for gunplay than museums. At least he wouldn’t have to finish the paper he hadn’t started for that bioethics class. This one incident could mean a whole new direction for him. “Don’t think a life in crime is going to be the answer,” he mumbled.

  “Yes, you’d be pretty bad at that as well,” Isaac said as they reached their final destination. “But all is not lost. Emily and Jacob have both experienced considerable success.”

  “I told you we could have handled this ourselves,” Emily said as she opened the door to the church rectory and ushered them inside.

  Showing up in the wee hours of the morning at an old, abandoned church in the middle of nowhere felt so much like a fugitive thing to do. Austin didn’t even have to know that police were searching for him for it to feel that way. There had already been indications that he’d gotten involved with the wrong crowd. This was a huge, garish sign with blinking neon lights and arrows telling him he screwed up big time.

  “Greetings to you too, Emily,” Isaac replied as she closed the door behind them. “Thank you for arranging the meeting in my absence.”

  Austin hated it when Isaac started talking like that. Four people getting together in the back of a church wasn’t a “meeting.” Why did he have to be so formal all the time?

  “Here they are.” Emily’s lips broke into an uncomfortable grin as she guided Isaac over to a table that held two books identical to the one Austin had in his bag. The bag he really should have thrown away at one of the station stops. Should have changed his clothes too. Maybe dyed his hair and found some way to grow a beard overnight. He was going to have to get better at this fugitive stuff if this was going to become a new lifestyle.

  Isaac’s hands hovered inches over the two books as if he was feeling the heat rise off them or something. Austin noticed he was careful not to touch the books in the process.

  “You’ve collected the witches’ powers?” Isaac asked.

  “Just like you said we would,” Emily replied.

  “Not just like it,” Jacob said. Austin hadn’t seen him sitting in the corner at first. The shadows in the dark room had kept him hidden. “My book didn’t act much like a normal book when I tried to use it. Light came from it and I’m pretty sure it did something to the girl that had nothing to do with those magical herbs you gave me to use on her.”

  “Mine too,” Emily said, though she didn’t sound nearly as skeptical as Jacob. In fact, Austin was pretty sure she was excited by what she’d done. “It kept me safe when that witch tried to use her dark magic against me. With these books we’re invulnerable to witchcraft.”

  The chair Jacob was sitting in creaked as he got up. “I don’t like it. You claimed this was natural magic, Isaac. What happened in that computer shop did not feel natural to me. It felt very, very unnatural. I might even call it evil.”

  “Oh, enough with the drama, Jacob!” Emily said. “We are doing the work of the just. We are ridding the world of witchcraft, like our ancestors attempted to do.”

  Austin laughed. “You mean the crazy villagers who tortured and killed innocent women? That’s who we’re looking up to here?”

  Isaac stared him down. “I would think you would hold your tongue, considering your failure today.”

  “The kid’s right,” Jacob said. “I didn’t get into this for some random witch hunt. I want to do some good, to rid the world of actual evil. I don’t think using the tools of evil is the way to go about it.”

  Isaac took the bag from Austin. “As I’ve explained before, these Books of Light are not evil. They are merely incantations—spells that humans came up with to fight the unnatural magic that witches possess. It was the only way the powerless could defend themselves. You saw yourselves how they worked with that mixture of herbs I provided. What could be more natural?”

  “These books also freeze witches in place,” Jacob said. “I wouldn’t call that natural.”

  Isaac opened Austin’s bag and slid the third Book of Light onto the table. “The books do protect themselves, yes. But only from dark magic. They won’t do us any harm.”

  “He’s right,” Emily said. “The book protected me from that witch. I could never imagine the amount of magic she tried to use against me, but the book repelled it all like some kind of force field.”

  “Doesn’t sound very natural to me,” Austin mumbled. Isaac glared his way, but didn’t say anything this time.

  Austin was having a hard time swallowing Isaac’s stories about so-called “natural” magic. He’d read a lot of fantasy growing up. So many of those books talked about how magic was neither good nor evil, that it was all in how it was used. Austin didn’t think that attacking young women in museums was something good people did. He didn’t even know what the girl had done to deserve it. Had she ever cast a spell on anyone? Did she know how to do a curse? So far, all he had was Isaac’s word that witches were evil. He had no actual evidence.

  Emily didn’t share his concerns. She seemed truly convinced. Jacob too. Even with his doubts, Jacob never questioned the core belief that witches were evil.

  It was always possible that Austin had gotten mixed up with three crazy people. Maybe it was time to go to the police and tell them what he knew. The price of Isaac’s protection could easily become too high. Austin hadn’t actually attacked anyone—all he’d done was go to a museum with a guy that had a gun. What was the worst the police could do to him? It was beginning to feel like less of a concern than being with three lunatics who talked about natural and unnatural magic.

  “Yesterday’s tests, while not a complete success”—Isaac glanced at Austin—“revealed that we are on the right path. These books allow us to be more than human, but less than witches. With their help, we can rid the world of the evil of witchcraft.”

  “The world?” Austin asked. “That’s a lot of work for three people. Not counting you, since you can’t even hold one of these books.”

  Isaac’s eyes narrowed. “Emily? Jacob? Could you go to the next room please? I need to have a conversation with Austin before we move on to the next stage.”

  Austin tensed as the others left without a word. Jacob did allow for a look of concern before he went out in silence. This was it. Either Isaac was going to tell him to get out, or the man was about to pull his gun again. There was no doubt in Austin’s mind those were the only two options. Austin braced himself and prepared for fight or flight.

  Instead, Isaac smiled, placing a hand on Austin’s shoulder and giving him what was probably meant to be a reassuring squeeze. “Always questioning,” Isaac said. “I enjoy inquisitive minds. So much more interesting than the blind faith of followers like Emily or Jacob’s ability to whine without bothering to do anything about his concerns.”

  “Thanks?” Austin said, still bracing for the unexpected.

  Isaac held a hand out over Emily’s Book of Light. “Would you help me with this?”

  “Sure?” Austin picked up the book for Isaac and followed him over to the wall, not quite sure what they were supposed to be doing.

  “Never let that facet of your personality die,” Isaac said. “It’s a useful trait. And part of the reason I chose you for the most important part of my plan.” Isaac pressed his hand against the wall. An invisible seam appeared in the woodwork and grew larger as two panels of the wall slid apart, revealing a hidden bookcase with rows of empty shelves. Isaac motioned for Austin to place the Book of Light on the topmost shelf.

  “You still want me in on this?” Austin asked as he raised the book to the shelf. “Even though I screwed up in Philly?”

  Isaac motioned for Austin to retrieve Jacob’s copy of the Book of Light. “Your ‘screwup’ was exactly the reason I knew you’d be perfect for that mission. Admittedly, I hadn’t expected you to step in once I pulled the gun. But I knew you couldn’t use the Book aga
inst that witch. You showed all the signs of reluctance . . . reluctance to trust me . . . reluctance to harm another.”

  Austin put the second book up on the shelf. “It was a test?”

  “In a manner of speaking,” Isaac said. “It was a setup for my Plan B. I wanted you to unsettle Alysha. I wanted her to be nervous . . . suspicious. So that when I pulled my gun, she would react without thinking. I’d hoped that she would use her magic in a very public space in a very showy way.”

  “You wanted her to attack me? Attack us?” Austin asked as he examined the empty shelves in the hidden compartment. The shelves weren’t that interesting, but he thought he saw another seam in the center of the wall behind them. Either the walls came together naturally at that point, or there was a second hidden shelving unit or something else back there.

  Isaac closed the two hidden doors, replacing the fake wall before Austin could get a good look. “Alysha has quite an interesting power. She creates these remarkable light shows—fireworks and explosions that are all flash and no substance. She’s the rare witch that is not truly a threat to anyone. But when these brilliant displays of power emanate from her hands, they make for quite an interesting display—one that would have been an incredible sight for the tour group full of witnesses to see. To say nothing of the exciting video the museum would have provided for the evening news.”

  Austin finally realized what Isaac was talking about. “But when I tried to stop you from shooting her, I botched the plan. She never revealed her powers.”

  “It’s my fault, really,” Isaac said. “I should have trusted you enough to tell you the truth. The gun was filled with blanks. If you had known she wasn’t really in danger, we might have had our victory.”

  “But why?” Austin asked. “What’s that got to do with stealing witches’ powers?”

  “Austin, this has never just been about taking witches’ powers,” Isaac said. “It’s about stopping all witches, everywhere. To do that, we must reveal them. Let the world know that the nightmare stories of their youth were all true. That witches are real. That the danger exists. Once we get the public to realize that these insidious creatures are hiding right next to them—their friends, their neighbors—it will make our job taking the powers of these creatures all the easier.”

  “And then we what?” Austin asked. “Recruit more witch hunters?”

  Isaac laughed again. It was just as unnerving. “Oh, Austin. The recruiting has already been done.” Isaac moved over to the double doors that he’d sent Emily and Jacob through earlier. “In the late seventeen hundreds members of the town council in Salem had many children. A lack of birth control coupled with a need for extra hands to help build a nation made large families common back then. Most residents of Salem gave birth to more children than is typical today. Hundreds of years later, their descendants have many, many cousins.”

  Isaac opened the doors to reveal the pews of the church. Emily and Jacob sat in the front row, stiff backed and attentive, waiting for Isaac to enter. Behind them, the wooden pews were filled with dozens of people of all ages. All of these people wore the same determined expressions on their faces, mixed with excitement and anticipation. These expressions were the final piece of the puzzle that Austin needed to realize he had definitely fallen in with the wrong crowd.

  But the people themselves weren’t the truly frightening part.

  At the end of each row sat a stack of books, identical to the ones left behind on the hidden shelves in the rectory. There were volumes upon volumes—far more books than people—with bottles of herbs atop each stack.

  More than enough to steal the powers from hundreds of witches.

  It was more than enough magic to start a war.

  Chapter 11

  “Paige!”

  “Down in a second!”

  Piper paced the living room in the Halliwell Manor. She’d gotten Leo and the kids off to Magic School after a nice, big family breakfast together with Paige and her brood. It was nice to cook for her kids again and spend some quality family time together, but now it was time to get back to Prue before this cult of whatever attacked more witches. Paige had seen her own husband and kids off as well and was taking her own sweet time getting dressed. Honestly, she could have done all that while Piper was making breakfast. They did have Innocents to protect.

  “Piper, you’re going to wear a hole in the floor,” Phoebe said from the couch. “Sit down. You’ll get there.”

  “We’ll get there,” Piper said. “I need you to come along and talk Cole out of going to the Underworld to make contact with his old cronies.”

  “Why?” Phoebe asked. “The Elders left him with Prue so that he could help us. Can you think of any better way for him to do that? It’s not like we’ve got much use for an undead former demon. Let him do what he does best.”

  Piper shook her head. “Phoebe, you know better than anyone why it would be dangerous for Cole to reconnect with his past.”

  “He’s a big boy now,” Phoebe replied. “He’s got to take care of himself. I’ve got other responsibilities.”

  Piper sat on the edge of the couch. “You really hate him that much? Or are you that afraid to see him again? I thought you’d moved past all this. You were going to try to be friends.”

  Phoebe sighed. “The problem is that I don’t know what a friendship with Cole is. Do we hang out and catch a baseball game? Do I invite him over for dinner with Coop and the girls? I mourned for Cole and what we had. More than once. I think I’ve finally moved on.”

  “If you’d moved on, you wouldn’t have so much of a problem spending time with him,” Paige said as she came down the stairs.

  “About time,” Piper said. “Come on. Take us to Prue’s. We can deal with all of this one problem at a time.”

  “No,” Paige replied.

  “Again with the no,” Piper said. “We did what you said. We took the night off. And you were right. My kids were starting to forget what I looked like. It was great getting to read them bedtime stories, even when they kept wanting to hear the same one over and over. So, thank you for that. And I’m sure Leo wants to thank you as well. But they’re all at school and daycare now and in case you haven’t noticed, we’ve got a job to do.”

  “You’re one to talk about jobs,” Paige said, refusing to back down. “Halliwell’s needs you too. As important as your family is, you’ve got more of a life here than just them. So, here’s what we’re going to do: I’m taking this bottle of magical herbs to Prue’s, where the two of us will work together to figure out what it is. Phoebe, you and Cole are going to the Underworld to see if you can find out about this book—or books, seeing as how they’ve shown up in three different cities so far. We need to know what it is, why humans can control it, and how it works with these herbs. I’d also like to know who’s in charge here. I’m assuming it’s the guy with the gun. What family did he descend from? Or is he someone else entirely? Or something?”

  “But—”

  Paige held up a hand. “No. We can’t send Cole off down there alone. If he shows up in the Underworld with a Charmed One, no one is going to talk to him. But if that Charmed One is his former wife, maybe he can convince some demons he’s managed to sway you back to the dark side or whatever. It’s our best shot.”

  “Me and Cole on a trip to the Underworld,” Phoebe said. “What could possibly go wrong?”

  “Prue’s waiting,” Piper reminded her.

  “So’s your restaurant,” Paige replied. “Piper, I’m doing the best I can in your absence, but there are some things I just can’t handle. Like your obnoxious line cook. You need to take at least an hour to check in. Your employees are also forgetting what you look like. If there’s any emergency, I’ll orb you where we need you to be. Until then, you’ve got to deal with your life. Prue’s a big girl too. She’ll manage without you for the morning. Or evening. I guess it’s evening the
re. Well, whatever. We’ll be fine.”

  Piper looked like she wanted to argue, but she didn’t say anything. Paige took that as an agreement. She grabbed Phoebe by the hand and started orbing before her sisters could change their minds.

  “Sprinkle a tablespoon of herbs into the cauldron,” Prue said as she busied herself gathering items from the shelves in the small room. “I know the perfect spell we can use to figure out the ingredients.”

  “Consider it done.” Paige didn’t see a measuring spoon readily available, but she’d spent enough time around real chefs in a functioning kitchen that she was familiar with how it was done. She’d just pour it into her hand. That was how the professionals did it.

  Paige opened the bottle and started to pour, but jerked her hand away as the first sparkle of herbs was about to land in her palm. Perhaps herbs with the power to steal magic from witches were not something she wanted to touch. She settled on pouring a bit directly into the cauldron and stopping when it looked to be the correct amount.

  Paige was relieved to see that Prue was still busy examining the shelves and hadn’t caught her near-boneheaded move. The last thing she needed was for the sister she’d only recently met to think she was an idiot. “Piper was right,” Paige said. “This stuff does smell like oregano.”

  It was strange. Paige had been a witch for years now. Far longer than Prue had been aware of her own powers while she was alive, in fact. And yet she felt like a novice in her sister’s presence.

  It wasn’t anything that Prue had done to make her feel that way. Far from it, actually. Prue had been incredibly welcoming. She even renounced her claim on the Power of Three so that Paige could remain in her rightful place. It was just that it had been hard enough years back for Paige to go from being an only child to having siblings. She wondered if she’d ever grow accustomed to this ever-expanding family of theirs.