by MJ Caan
“Oh, we are quite familiar with your family,” said Aunt Lena, sitting back. “Drink your tea while it’s hot, dear.”
He smiled and raised the cup to his lips, blowing lightly across the surface of the liquid before sipping gingerly. “Wow, that’s really good.” He took another sip, this one a little bigger.
“So I’m surprised that you and Allie don’t know one another from school,” said Aunt Vivian. “Were you in the same classes?”
“Honestly, I don’t remember, Aunt Vivian,” I said.
“Oh, I remember you,” said Cody. “You were a grade ahead of me, and ran with a different crowd. We had an economics class together, but that was it.”
Great. I barely remembered Economics, let alone who was in my class. Despite myself, I looked at him a little closer and searched my memories. He was not bad-looking, to be honest; his square cut jawline and brown eyes matched his perfect name. But I certainly didn’t remember him from school. In high school I was pretty much a loner. Despite his assertion that I “ran with a crowd,” nothing could have been further from the truth. Other than Hope, I had despised being around other teenagers.
“Interesting. Allie had a knack for keeping to herself. That could explain why she is still lacking in the social graces to this day,” said Aunt Vivian. It was almost as if she was reading my mind. Hell, for all I knew she probably was.
“So where’s Gar?” I asked, trying to steer the conversation away from myself.
“He’s in his room playing video games or doing whatever it is that young men his age like to do,” said Aunt Lena. “Don’t you go bothering him now; you just sit right here with the grown-ups and talk to this handsome young man.”
I could feel my cheeks burn as Cody’s eyes wandered my way. I immediately began drinking my tea, turning slightly away from his gaze.
“Oh, that’s okay,” said Cody. “I’m sure Allie has other things on her mind than sitting here chatting with me. I mean, why should tonight be any different from any other time we’ve run across each other?”
I immediately spun around. “You mean the one class we had in high school four years ago?”
“No, no,” he said, holding up a hand. “That’s not what I meant. I come into your coffee shop almost daily. I see you around town quite a bit, actually.”
“Stalk much?” I didn’t mean it; it slipped out before I could edit the thought.
“All right, that’s enough,” said Aunt Vivian. Her voice has taken on a slightly different edge, one that Cody wouldn’t recognize but I did.
“I think I should be going,” said Cody, moving to sit his cup on the small coffee table in front of him.
“Nonsense,” said Aunt Vivian.
Now, I was really annoyed. It would serve them right if I just got up and went to my room without telling them what happened. Let them figure out there’s a rogue witch somewhere in town raising the dead.
“Finish your tea first, and then you can be on your way if you’d like,” said Aunt Vivian, her voice becoming just a little more singsong.
Cody obeyed, lifting the cup to his lips and taking in a couple of large gulps. That was when I noticed his strange movements. He was a little sluggish and off-kilter, an almost imperceptible sway settling into his shoulders as he placed the now empty cup down. I glanced again at Aunt Lena and notice her lips were moving. She seemed to be speaking, or at least mouthing words silently to herself.
Oh no. She wouldn’t dare! She was casting, working some type of spell on Cody! She must have drugged his tea as well. That would explain his sudden lack of coordination.
“So, that was some nasty business with the animal attack that everyone was talking about today,” said Aunt Vivian casually. “Were you out on that call? It must have been so scary.”
“Oh, ma’am,” Cody started, “I’m not really allowed to talk about official business…”
“Ah, come now,” my aunt continued. “This isn’t business if it’s just among friends. I mean, Allie here is your friend, and she is my niece. I’m sure neither of us want to see anything bad happen to her. All I’m asking is that, if you know there is anything bad happening around here, you tell us so we can protect ourselves.”
I glared at Aunt Vivian, but bit my tongue. Part of me wanted to see how this played out.
“Well…I guess that’s true,” said Cody, his words slurring ever so slightly.
I glanced over at Aunt Lena. Her lips were moving at an even faster clip now. Her eyes had gone ghostly and gray under the strain of the magic she was pulling.
“Cody.” Aunt Vivian leaned in. “Was there a body found at Singing Falls today?”
“Yes.”
“Was it a fall from the rocks? An accidental death?”
“No.”
“Was it an animal attack?”
Cody hesitated, his eyelids at half-mast. “I…don’t know.”
Aunt Vivian looked at her sister briefly and then continued. “What do you mean? Surely the coroner has some idea.”
“It looked like an animal did it, but there isn’t anything in these parts that would do that to a person.”
“Explain,” said Aunt Vivian.
“The throat was torn open, so badly that most of the neck was missing. The head was hanging on by a strip of skin. The spine and larynx were tossed aside next to the body. The chest was mangled, but not by teeth. It looked like the ribcage had been split open by hands…or claws. The heart was missing, but other than that, the body had not been chewed or eaten.”
I clamped a hand over my mouth as a wave of nausea hit me.
“Were samples taken from the body?” Vivian asked.
“Oh yeah. We found some weird hairs around the neck wound. They also took tissue samples and blood from around the body, just in case some of it came from whatever did it. Working theory is it was a bear attack. One must have wandered down from the high country. At least...that’s what we are supposed to tell everyone.”
“What’s the unofficial theory?”
“No one will come right out and say it, but everyone is whispering that maybe they are back. You know, the werewolves.”
I gasped audibly, and Aunt Vivian shot me a look. I knew not to speak aloud; it can break the delicate spell Aunt Lena was weaving. Glancing up I apologized with my eyes before my aunt continued with Cody.
“Cody, you have been so helpful. I want you to do one last thing for me. As soon as the reports come in from the coroner and the lab, would you be a dear and bring them to us here at the house?”
Cody frowned, but then nodded in agreement.
“And Cody, as soon as you do that, you will forget all about having done so. You will also forget that this conversation ever happened. We had tea, made small talk, and you enjoyed your time with us and my niece. That’s all, okay?”
“Okie dokie,” he replied cheerfully.
Aunt Lena leaned back, cutting off whatever spell she had cast. Aunt Vivian snapped her finger sharply in front of Cody’s face and he was instantly back to his normal self.
“Oh wow,” he said, looking at his watch, “where’d the time go? Thank you ladies for such a wonderful evening, and that tea…I definitely need to pick some of that up. But I need to be going. Busy day tomorrow.”
We all rose, thanked the young officer for his help, and walked him to the door. He nodded again, placing the wide-brimmed hat back on his head, and headed down the drive to his car.
I turned to my aunts after shutting the door, unable to control my excitement.
“Holy shit!” I exclaimed before I could stop myself. “When are you guys going to teach me the good stuff like that?”
“Allie!” said Aunt Lena. “Language!”
5
I headed back to the café the next morning after stopping in to check on Hope. Other than a serious headache, she was no worse for the wear. Her injury pained me, but to be honest I was grateful that her memory was a little more fuzzy, and she was taking full advantage of the pain pills the doctor had
given her. He had told her a couple days of rest, and she’d be back to normal.
Good. That gave me a couple of days to try and get handle on what was going on around here without having to worry about the safety of my best friend. I let my mind wander back to the previous night’s events. I had filled my aunts in on the events at the coffee shop. For some reason, they weren’t impressed that I was able to create my first manifestation of magical force to defend myself. They also didn’t seem to be terribly upset over the fact that I had been attacked by what appeared to be a zombie freshly risen from the grave.
“Obviously you were mistaken,” said my Aunt Lena. “The trauma of it all must have scared you so deeply that your mind played tricks on you.”
“Tricks?” I replied. “I’m not a child, Aunt Lena. That was no trick. The smell was real and everything about it just felt…I don’t know, rotted and dead. And it was so strong…”
“Well there you go,” said Aunt Vivian. “Zombies aren’t very strong. They mostly just shamble around bemoaning the fact that they can’t really do anything to anyone other than bite them.”
“Well yeah, if you go by Walking Dead lore,” I replied. “But what if this was different? What if The Walking Dead has it all wrong, and it’s just some dude’s mish-mashed ideas about what zombies are?”
“Allie,” said Aunt Lena, “enough already. It was probably some dope fiend looking to rob you of enough cash to get his next fix. I’ve heard men on angel dust can be very strong.”
“Angel dust?” I said. “Yes, that might be plausible. If this were 1975!” I took some deep breaths, trying to calm my nerves.
“Honey, believe me, there are no such things as zombies. They don’t exist,” said Aunt Vivian.
“Oh yeah? Well, you also said there are no such things as werewolves either, and that all the stuff Mom used to tell Gar and me about how she helped eradicate them was just her being delusional. Yet when Cody mentioned them you didn’t seem to think he was so crazy. And for that matter, most people also don’t believe in witches, yet here we stand.”
Aunt Lena whirled on me, her eyes blazing.
“We are agents of light and nature,” she said. “Don’t ever forget that. We are not creatures forged out of darkness and the mad ramblings of a …”
“Sister!” interjected Aunt Vivian. “Have a care lest you confuse the child.” Her words seemed to strike a chord with my other aunt, who immediately fell silent. I looked at her closely but she avoided my gaze. I made a mental note to have her finish that sentence the next time we were alone.
“Allie,” said Aunt Vivian as she took on a much calmer and more soothing tone, “we are worried about your safety. There is obviously something going on in this town, something not of the supernatural variety, but of the everyday, mundane, violent male variety—which if you ask me, is far deadlier than any perceived supernatural threat could ever be. The three of us come from a very old line of witches. We can be very powerful. But even we can’t raise the dead. To my knowledge, there isn’t anyone out there left that can do such things.”
“Left?” I said. “You mean at one point someone could have done this?”
My aunt hesitated before answering. “Perhaps at one time. But such a manipulation of the natural forces was outlawed many generations ago. Such old and dark magic died out long before you were born. Whatever is going on out there is the work of man. Or, as Officer Cody will come to realize, an animal that has wandered too far from its feeding grounds, driven to attack someone out of fear and desperation.”
I looked at Aunt Lena and she smiled, nodding her agreement.
“But I must say,” added Aunt Lena, “congrats on manifesting a hex. That takes real skill, and the fact that you did it without instruction means you’re a natural when it comes to magic.”
“A hex? You mean that blue ball I created?”
“Yes, dear. It’s called a hex. It seems you’re a natural at it, just like your mother,” said Aunt Vivian.
“Does that mean you’re going to start teaching me more magic and spells? Like what you did to Cody tonight?”
“That,” said Aunt Vivian, “was a necessary evil. Subverting free will is something I never want to see you mess around with. We would never do such a thing if it weren’t imperative that we learn what they know.”
“By ‘they’ you mean the norms?” I asked.
“That’s a vulgar term,” replied Aunt Lena. “Your brother is a ‘norm,’ you know. Not his fault he was born one of the only males in a line of female witches.”
I shuffled my feet and didn’t meet her eyes. “But you’re saying that there could be something out there we need to be aware of? Something…that’s not norm?”
“Maybe,” said Aunt Vivian. “Either way, we need to know what to be ready for. Just in case.”
That was all I was able to get out of them. I didn’t see them on my way out of the house, which was just as well. Zombie or crazed crackhead, they would not have wanted me coming back to the shop alone until they knew what was really going on. I just wanted to get back to some kind of normal rhythm, and the best way to do that was to go back to work. Plus, I wanted to try some residual tracking spells I had been working on to try and pick up any trail that thing could have left behind.
I wasn’t exactly sure it would work. It was a spell my aunts had taught me to locate mundane items, like car keys and my student ID’s as a child. But it was all about moving energy around, attaching it to a signature that was imprinted on your mind, and then following that energy to the item. Granted, I had no idea if it worked on a living—or in this case, an undead—being, but I figured it would be worth a shot. Especially since the creature was so prominently fixed in my mind.
The first thing I did was probe for Aunt Viv’s wards to make sure they were still in place. Not that they had been the least bit helpful last night, but it was a little reassuring knowing that they were still up and guarding the shop from at least some potential mystical threats.
I locked the door behind me and surveyed the damage from last night’s fight. In the light of day, it didn’t look quite as bad as I thought. There were only a couple of chairs and tables that had been tossed aside, and a few broken cups. The worst damage was to the counter bar and display case. The zombie, which I was now sure was what the creature was, had busted the counter to hell. I’d have to call the insurance adjusters for that and file a claim. It would mean closing up shop for a couple of days, but we would manage. I had already called the two summer high-schoolers who were scheduled to come in today and told them what happened. They pretended to be bummed but in reality were probably just as happy to have a couple days off at the beginning of their summer vacation.
I walked over to the spot where I had immolated the zombie. That spell alone had nearly wiped me out. Creating normal fire was hard enough, but magical fire was on another level entirely. It consumed everything on which the spell was cast, but did no damage to the surrounding areas. In the zombie’s case, it was literally eaten by the flames, but they didn’t so much as singe the wood flooring beneath him. This was the only part that I had altered when I told my aunts about the attack. I said that the creature had burst into flames when I stabbed it, releasing the dark magic; I had no intention of telling them that I had created a mystical conflagration that had destroyed all evidence of the creature’s existence. I wasn’t ready for them to start asking questions about just how much I had been practicing the arts.
If my aunts had their way, I wouldn’t know any magic. But magic was an innate part of me. If they didn’t teach me how to control it, there was no telling what could happen. Not long after my thirteenth birthday, I started having nightmares that I couldn’t remember, and during those dreams, my latent abilities would flare out of control, damaging lamps, mirrors, and furniture in my bedroom. It all came to a head one evening during a particularly violent nightmare, when my aunts came into my bedroom to find the curtains on fire. That was when they decided it was
time to help me control my magic. The idea was to give me tiny incantations that would require great focus, bleeding my magic so that it never became too pent up. For the most part, it worked. But as I grew, I started experimenting.
And then, I discovered the internet. It was amazing what I could find out in chat rooms and on forums. Granted, there was a lot of bogus nonsense about magic posted all over the web, but every now and then I’d find a little nugget of truth, or meet someone online who knew a thing or two about spells and how they worked. That knowledge, coupled with my natural abilities to channel magic, had helped me grow my abilities far more than Aunt Lena and Aunt Vivian had ever realized. Or at least, so I hoped. Only Gar knew what I was up to, but he had always kept my secrets, just as I had always kept his.
I swept all of that out of my mind and concentrated. I reached down inside myself and pulled at my magic. Closing my eyes, I built a mental image in my mind of the creature that attacked me. I called to the magic and invoked a spell of retrieval, focusing on the spot where the zombie had lain—before I had lit its ass up.
Technically, there was nothing left for my magic to track, but maybe, just maybe, I could latch onto the signature of whatever had raised it from the grave. If I could, then maybe I could follow that and find out who, or what, was capable of creating zombies. For a second I hesitated, as a thought chilled my spine. What if I did find the source? Then what? I was a witch with the barest understanding of magic. What was I going to do if I ran into someone with the power to command the dead?
Stop it, Allie.
I pushed the thought away and focused on the task at hand. First things first. I sent my magic into the ether, trying to grasp onto something, anything, that didn’t belong in my shop. I was about to give up when I felt it: a small tug at the filament of magic to which I was tethered. It was almost imperceptible. It reminded me of a time when I used to go fishing with Gar at the falls and a fish would be nibbling at my bait, sending the slightest shiver up the line and into my pole; so slight that at first I wasn’t sure I really felt it, until it happens a second time, only slightly harder.
