Potion of the Hound

by Alicia Scarborough

  He squints trying to see through the driving rain. “What the?”

  He swerves and drives the car off the road onto the shoulder, coming to a complete stop. Helga shakes her head and looks over at Jay, asking, “What’s going on? Why are we stopping?”

  Jay points towards the woods and replies, “I think I just saw Ruby!”

  “Nonsense,” she argues, “that could have been any fox. We need to continue getting out of town.”

  He shakes his head, “No, I’m sure that was Ruby. If I catch her, then you can change her back.”

  “Jay, no, there’s no guarantee that the fox you saw was Ruby,” she continues, “We’re too far from the shop for that to be her.”

  “It could be her!” He bangs his fist on the steering wheel. “It has to be her! I mean, animals can travel pretty fast, and it has been a while since we last saw her.”

  Helga bites her bottom lip and bunches her apron into her fists. “What if it isn’t? We really need to go. I know you really liked your friend, but if we stay . . . if we stay . . .”

  Jay’s eyes narrow as he bares his teeth at her. “I refuse to say that it wasn’t her. I’m going after it!”

  “You can’t!” Helga cries, “You can’t, or you will get caught by the hounds!”

  “To heck with those dang hounds,” Jay says as he unbuckles his seatbelt and slams open his door, jumping out of the car.

  “JAY! NO! DON’T!” Helga reaches for him but is too late. “It’s a trap,” she states and brings her empty hand back to hold it close to her chest.

  The car dings as the door hangs open in the rain. Thunder sounds from above. Rain pours down even harder, drowning out the image of Jay as he dashes into the woods. Cars and trucks on the highway drive by splashing water into the open doorway.

  “To heck with him,” she mumbles to herself, “If he wants to be caught by the stupid hound, then that’s his own choice.”

  She slides over to the driver’s seat and closes the door. She adjusts the chair so that her feet reach the pedal, and she works the mirrors to her liking. Bumping up the speed of the windshield wipers to max, Helga puts the SUV in drive and starts back down the road. She looks for an opening and slips back into the stream of traffic.

  Suddenly, the SUV turns off and stops working. She mashes the button trying to get it to start but has no luck. “Come on, come on,” Helga pleads with the SUV but gets no response.

  Tires screech and horns blare as the SUV lurches forward due to another vehicle rear-ending it and slamming the SUV into a truck in front of it. Cars start to honk violently as the owner of the truck in front gets out and comes to Helga. She sees that the man from the front vehicle is huge. His beady eyes stare her down as he points at her indicating she not move. Not wanting to deal with the angry man, she slides over to the passenger side and hops out of the SUV.

  “HEY LADY!” the man shouts, his feet pounding hard on the wet street, “COME BACK HERE!”

  Helga stumbles and falls forwards as she tries to run away. She gets back up and runs towards the woods with the wet ground sloshing around her feet. Her heart is in her throat as the ground grabs hold of her with each hurried step, making her feel like she is not going to get away.

  Soon, the shouting of the man behind her fades away along with the sounds of car horns blaring. She continues to run for cover in the forest that lines the sides of the highway. Helga slows down as she gulps in air. She stops to place her hands on her knees as she bends over to catch her breath.

  With the trees overhead keeping most of the rain off of her, Helga stands up tall and scans her surroundings. The chitter of the usual wildlife is silent due to the rain, so the only thing she hears is the pitter-pat of the rain drops that do make it through the forest’s canopy.

  She feels a buzz going on in her apron’s top pocket. She reaches in, pulls out the phone, and answers, “Hello?”

  It’s Ursa, demanding, “Helga—where are you?”

  Helga tries to calm down her frantic sister, coaxing, “Hush, Ursa. No need to worry.”

  Ursa continues, “Agnes is GONE! Some lady showed up and took her! She told me to tell you that you know what she wants.”

  “WHAT?” Helga shouts into the phone.

  “Ouch! Helga, who is that lady? What does she want?” Ursa asks frantically.

  “That lady is Lady Ava,” Helga replies, “You have never met her, and I was hoping that you never would. But, if she has Agnes, then this does not bode well.”

  “Oh dear,” Ursa says, “But, where are you, Helga? You’re not at the shop. I checked.”

  Helga does a double take at the phone and asks, “Ursa, how were you able to check the shop?”

  “Oh, Mr. Higgins was able to give me a ride.”

  “WHAT?” Helga shouts again.

  “Decibels, dear, decibels,” Ursa replies, “He recognized Lady Ava but didn’t bother telling me. He only told me to come with him cause he knew you were in danger. What is going on?”

  The sounds of sirens and cars honking emitts from the phone. “Are you guys currently in some kind of car chase?” Helga asks.

  “Don’t worry about that,” Ursa dismisses Helga’s question, “Where are you?”

  “Errr, I’m off of Highway 78 going east towards Athens. I don’t know how far out, but you’ll see a wrecked silver or grey SUV.” Helga’s cheeks flush when she admits, “I’m hiding out in the woods.”

  “Are you okay?” Ursa asks with concern. More car horns can be heard blaring in the background. Helga can hear Higgins bark a few terse words at the other drivers.

  “Um, yeah. My side hurts like heck, but that’s from earlier. The crash didn’t help though.” Helga rolls her right shoulder and moves her neck.

  “You’re injured?” Ursa cries.

  “Yeah, but don’t worry about that right now. I’m fine.”

  “Where’s Jay?” Ursa asks, “He wasn’t at the shop either.”

  The brush off to Helga’s left rustles making her take a step to one side. With cautious eyes she stares at it as she answers Ursa, “He was with me . . . until he ran after some fox he saw running into these woods.”

  “Okay,” Ursa says, “Did you find him yet?”

  “No,” Helga replies as she turns around to watch another bush move.

  “Alright, don’t move. The chief and I will be there soon,” Ursa instructs Helga over the phone, “Love you! Bye!”

  The phone goes silent. Helga looks down at the screen to see the time, 6:12 p.m. She puts the phone back into her pocket as she searches the area, looking for whatever is making the leaves move in the brush in front of her. She strains her ears listening for the tiniest of footsteps on the forest floor.

  The bush begins to rustle violently when an orange blur jumps out, and Helga stumbles backwards tripping over a log and falling to the ground. The fox stops and stares at her for a split second before it runs off again.

  Helga says, “Stupid fox. Ugh, I hate that stupid thing.” She continues to look in the direction the fox ran.

  “Hey, Helga, is that you?” a male voice questions.

  Helga turns her head and sees Jay standing over her holding a hand out to help her up. She takes it and gets pulled back up. She starts to dust herself off with no luck, for the mud clings to her dress and apron, decorating it with leaves and sticks from the forest floor.

  “You didn’t just see a fox run past here, did you?” he asks with a grin.

  “As a matter of fact, uh, yeah I did,” she answers, gesturing towards the bush it ran off to, “The stupid thing ran that way.”

  “Thanks.” He gives her the thumbs up and starts to run after it. Helga grabs ahold of his coat, saying, “Hold it. You can’t go running after it. We need to stick together.”

  “Why?” Jay asks as he bats her hand away from his coat.

  The sound of hounds baying off in the distance sends chills down their spines.

  “That’s why.”

  13

&n
bsp; The Hounds

  In the distance the hounds bay their eerie howls. Helga’s hair stands on end as she stares at Jay with big eyes. He stares back at her and then spins around, looking for the source of the howls.

  “Move,” Helga commands.

  “Where?” Jay asks with a shaky voice.

  “Back to the SUV.” She points back in the direction of the highway.

  Jay nods, and they run towards the highway. The limbs of the trees smack them in the face as they trip over every possible stone and slip on the wet leaves on the forest floor. They get up and continue running away from the hounds.

  Helga gulps in air as she puffs her cheeks out, trying to control her breathing. Her side burns and aches the longer she runs without stopping. The ground soggy from rain claws and pulls at their shoes, threatening to stop them for good. Helga takes a peek behind her and wishes that she did not look back, for what she saw were the eerie red-colored eyes of the demonic hounds.

  The barking grows louder, and Helga whimpers as her feet get tangled in debris on the ground. She lands hard and slides forward on the wet leaves that litter the ground. Jay stops and turns to help Helga.

  His jaw drops when he sees the hounds gaining ground. He hustles Helga back up, and they start to move as she holds onto him and hobbles. He continues to look back and urges Helga to hurry. She winces with pain as they continue to run as fast as they can go with her current condition.

  At this point she wishes that she could cast spells or at least grab her wand, which might have eased the stings, before she left, but then she remembers that the shop was full of frogs and toads, which barred her from getting anything that may have helped them right now. She curses herself for not watching where she stepped earlier when Agnes took care of the frog curse and she messed it up by breaking Agnes’s circle.

  Helga feels the whole situation is going from bad to worse and becoming impossible. There is no way they are going to get out of this mess without magic. It is at this moment that it hits her. Helga’s eyes brighten. “Jay!” she shouts, “Jay!”

  He slows a little and grunts, “What is it?”

  “Do you have your wand?” As Jay is a wizard of the 5th Order, there is a higher chance that he will have it on him since he cannot cast spells without it. Third Order and above you can cast magic without a wand.

  He reaches with his free hand into his jean’s side pocket, confirming, “Yeah, yeah, I do!”

  “Good!” Helga replies letting go of Jay, “Take care of those buggers!” She falls to the ground tumbling forward a bit.

  Jay slides to a stop and faces the hounds. “Ignitorium!” he shouts, moving his wand in a line as fire springs forth, lighting up the field before him with a wall of fire.

  The hounds halt to a stop and glare back at him with their red glowing eyes. They bark ferociously as they pace back and forth at the line.

  Jay hurries over to Helga and picks her back up, “That bought us some time, but it won’t hold them forever.”

  He pauses and asks, “Why can’t you cast any spells, Helga?”

  “Because it stings really painfully every time I do so.”

  “Huh?” Jay replies, letting Helga fall to the ground again.

  “I’m under probation!” she shouts.

  Jay examines his wand, noting, “I only have a few charges left in my wand before it’s out of juice.”

  Helga pushes herself up off of the ground, commenting, “It’s better than nothing. Try and keep them away, so we can make it to the car.”

  The sky flickers with more lightning as more thunder booms in the sky. The hounds bay their eerie howls as they disappear back into the woods.

  “Uh-oh, not good,” Jay says ducking his head.

  The two start moving again in the direction of the highway. Helga continues to hold her side as they run. Her shins bleed from the various sharp sticks that scraped them and the angular stones that skinned her knees when she stumbled and fell.

  Jay’s jeans become torn from the brambles that pull and catch as he sprints past. Both of them are soaked to the bone as the rain continues to pour down. Helga loses her hat from a strong gust of wind. Jay keeps on looking back to make sure his wall of fire is burning in spite of the driving rain.

  The sounds of the highway become louder as they hear cars and trucks rushing by on flooded roads. They skid to a halt in front of his ruined SUV.

  “No, no, noo, no, no, no, nooo,” Jay moans, “What happened?”

  Helga turns a pale green, remembering that his SUV was damaged earlier in the wreck when it stalled on her. The other cars are nowhere to be seen, but his SUV was pushed off to the side. An orange sticker is seen on the driver’s side window.

  She watches as he circles around the vehicle inspecting the damage. The front end is smashed in along with the back of the SUV. The hatch is crushed slightly, but is left open. She peeks in the back looking for Brimstone. Small traces of blood pool in some areas of the trunk’s carpet. Brimstone is not there. He must have escaped during the accident.

  Jay rounds on Helga. “What did YOU DO?” he roars.

  Helga winces and replies, “Tried to drive off without you? Heh, heh.” She shrugs her shoulders with palms facing up.

  He looks back and forth between her and the car. The fire in his eyes burns bright as he continues to scowl hard. His fingers readjust their grip on his wand. Lifting his wand, Helga moves to one side as he shouts, “Flare-lazarious!”

  Shocked she stares at Jay as a few wisps of hair burn up in the air while she falls to the ground. He shoots again, not at her but at something behind her. A loud yelp fills the air, and she turns to see one of Lady Ava’s hounds being scorched by Jay’s fire beam.

  Five more beasts wait in the shadow of the tree line. Jay hurries over to Helga, screaming, “GET UP! We have to go NOW!”

  He shoots a few more beams, and sparks fly from his wand, as Helga tries to get up but falls back down. The burning in her right side is unbearable. She reaches over, feels her side, and pulls her hand away to see that she is now bleeding.

  Jay yells again, “HELGA, WE HAVE TO GO NOW! GET UP!”

  Gritting her teeth Helga pushes herself up off of the ground as tears well up in her eyes from the pain. More explosions followed by yelps are heard. Helga rushes into the road as cars swerve to avoid her and honk their protest.

  She continues staggering across the road trying to get momentum, knowing that once she gets moving, then it won’t be hard to keep moving. She has to keep going for if she stops, then the hounds will get her.

  Jay joins her and helps her across the road while he shoots off a few more beams, making cars crash or swerve into each other in an attempt to slow down the hounds. He shakes his wand, trying to get more juice flowing through it. The hounds continue to bark and bay their eerie howls.

  Where are they going to go now? Jay’s SUV was their only hope, and now all they have are their own two feet. They continue to run and come to a steep hill. Helga’s right side burns even worse as she forces herself up the hill as fast as she can with Jay’s assistance. The hillside is slippery, making it hard to climb up, due to all of the rain.

  Jay asks between his teeth, “Where is your sister going to meet us?”

  Helga asks, “Huh?”

  “Your sister,” he replies, “I overheard you talking to your sister . . . Is she coming?”

  “How do you know that she’s coming?” Helga says between each pained breath.

  “Err, I kinda have better hearing than most. My family has a bit of elven blood in it.” He pushes Helga up the hill. “Besides, you both weren’t super quiet on the phone.”

  Helga grumbles, “So, nice to know my conversations over the phone aren’t private with you around.”

  They both make it to the top of the hill and start running again. Jay asks between breaths, “So, where were you supposed to meet your sister?”

  Helga wheezes and says, “It doesn’t matter . . .” She gasps for air. “
We can’t go back there.” She stops and starts to puff her cheeks out with each breath, trying to control her breathing again.

  Jay stops and heads back to Helga trying to urge her to keep moving. She waves him away, insisting, “You go on, I can’t go any further. I’m done.”

  “You don’t have any way to protect yourself,” Jay argues.

  Helga pulls one of the vials from her pocket, saying, “Yeah, I do,” and shows it to Jay.

  “What’s that gonna do?”

  “It’s gonna turn them into tiny little dogs.” Helga wheezes and smiles a weak smile as she waggles the vial between her fingers.

  Overhead the rain stops, and the clouds break apart. The moon shines down, and its light glimmers off of the vial with its sparkling green contents.

  “Is that what that potion does?” Jay demands.

  “Yep,” Helga replies and re-pockets the vial into her apron.

  “So, it was you who made the potion that turned Ruby into a fox?” Jay chokes.

  Helga hides her eyes away from Jay, pauses, and then responds, “Yes, but she wasn’t meant to get that potion. Lady Ava was meant to get it.”

  “Then how did she wind up with it? Who’s fault is it then?” his voice growls, growing louder with each word.

  “I don’t know. I’ve been trying to figure out who mixed up the potions. It could have been a mix-up with the stupid labels. Or it could have been that child ghost that swapped everything.” Helga grabs her side and sinks to the ground in pain. “I don’t know—”

  “Typical,” Jay whispers as he takes a few steps away from Helga, “You always find someone else to blame for your mistakes. Why can’t you own up to this one?”

  “That’s not true!” Helga shouts back up at Jay, “Didn’t I already admit my guilt back at the shop?”

  Jay turns his head to one side, not bothering to look at Helga, “Yeah, you did—”

  His head snaps to attention as they both hear the baying of the hounds getting closer again. “Dang it!” he spats towards the ground.

  He looks back at Helga. “Are you going to get up or not? Cause we can’t stay here.” He then turns his gaze back towards the direction of the howling.