8 Gone is the Witch (47 page)

Jerome
, sensing their suspicions, said, “What? You not hear of talking donkey? I smart. Got two heads. Better than one.”

That satisfied
them. The two snorted and ran off. For all I know, to this day they’re still blindly snorting and sniffing about the field, looking for us.

We sprang from the
hay pile and hurried to the next stall. We couldn’t see Jerome, but we knew he was there. Carlos opened the gate and entered with the donkey. “Jerome?”

Nothing.

“Come on, Jerome. We know you’re in here, show yourself.”

Still nothing.

“Come on, J-man.”

I
n the corner, masterfully camouflaged among the boards, straw and donkey manure, Jerome revealed himself.

“
Buddy, you saved us. Come here. Give me a hug.” Carlos extended his reach to receive Jerome, but the little green turd would have none of it. “Jerome. What’s wrong?”

He crossed his skinny arms to his chest and twirled his toe aimlessly among the chunks of manure at his feet. “Carlos no amigo.”

“What do you mean? We’re amigos. You and me, we’re best amigos.” He cast a glance at Tony and shook his head no.

“Carlos leave Jerome.”

“Okay. See, Lilith.” Carlos gave me that, I told you so, stare. “See what happened. Jerome, I didn’t want to leave you. You went off. We found the portal. We had to go. Lilith, tell him.”

“That’s right, Jerome
. We left the sack so that you would find the portal. Does that sound like something someone would do if he wanted to ditch you?”

He looked up at me. Actually, he rolled one
eye up at me. He kept the other on the ground. I guessed that meant he was coming around.

“
Jerome.” Carlos knelt down and set his hand on the piñata pup’s shoulder. “I didn’t want to leave you. You have to believe me. I especially didn’t want to leave without saying goodbye. Can you ever forgive me?”

At last, both eyes rolled up. “Jerome forgive.” He brought his hand out from behind his back and presented Carlos
with a gift.

“It’s the witch’s key!” Carlos snatched the key from Jerome
, stood up and handed it to me. He then offered his arms again to Jerome. “Hug now, amigo?”

I swear, as long as I live, I will never
forget that saw-toothed grin Jerome gave Carlos as he leapt into his arms. I’ll also never forget the way Carlos hugged the little shit as if there were no tomorrows. But then, it was a goodbye hug.

After the rest of
us took turns saying goodbye to Jerome, we all headed back to the alley. I instructed Tony, Carlos, Ursula and Leona to sit Indian-style in a circle with me while Jerome served as lookout.

“This will work just like it did when we left the research center. Tony, when I spin the witch’s key, you’ll release the knot in the ladder. Only this time, untie the fortieth knot.
”

“Got it.”

“Ursula?”

“Aye,
sister. When Incubus doth see red in eye, I snatch thy key what floats knee high.”

“That’s right. Carlos?”

“I know. Don’t tell me. You want me to sit here looking old and handsome.”

I smiled. “You are, you know.”

“Old?”

“Handsome.”

“Can we get on with it?” asked Tony.

“Of course.” I set the witch’s key on
its end and gave it a spin. It twirled easily on the hard flat ground, and after only a couple of booster bumps, it assumed perpetual spin. Next, I pressed my hands together and steepled them below my chin. “Everyone ready?”

“Aye.”

“Ready.”

“Do it.”

I began my incantation.

“Spin thee wicked web of wind and weave what we unfurl. Lest not we bilk in spider silk a passage through this world. Feed thy hunger, quench thy thirst, lo the witch’s ladder. Deliver us through Incubus from dark to lighter matter.”

I opened my eyes in time to see the witch’s key wobble through a clumsy last spin and fall flat on the ground. I looked at my Incubus ring. Its eyes were steel blue.

Carlos asked, “What happened?”

I looked at him. They were all looking at me. “I don’t know. It didn’t work.”

“We see that,” said Tony. “Why didn’t it?”

“I’m not sure. Unless...”

“
What?”

I shook my head. “Unless the conversion points aren’t here anymore.”

“Aren’t here? What do you mean? They were here a little while ago. Where’d they go?”

“I don’t know. I told you they wander, sometimes even disappear altogether.”

“How do we find them?”

“We don’t.”

“Lilith!”

“Tony, without an electromagnetic field meter,
I have no way of knowing where they are now.”

“Maybe you did it wrong
.” Carlos pointed at the witch’s key. “You spun it counterclockwise. Maybe in the ES you have to reverse it.”

“Okay. That makes sense. We can try it again. Everyone ready?”

“Yes.”

I stood the witch’s key on end again and gave it a feather
ed touch, spinning it clockwise as Carlos suggested. I then steepled my hands below by chin and recited the spell again.

I waited longer this time to open my eyes. When I did, I saw two things: the key lying flat on the ground and
four very disappointed faces.

Carlos
said, “It didn’t work, Lilith.”

“No shit, Sherlock.” I snatched the key up and pressed it to my palm. “It’s warm.”

Tony said, “Is it because I didn’t have another fortieth knot to untie?”

“No. The ladder’s energy will hang with us.”

“So, what does this mean?”

“It means the conversion points
are around here somewhere. Close. I just don’t know where.”

“What about the ones Doctor Lowell found?”

“What about them?”

“Maybe we can find those.” He looked to Leona. She seemed to anticipate his question.

“We came out of water,” she said.

“Water?” I looked at Tony, and again at Leona
. “What, like a lake?”

“No. I do not think so. I believe it was a poodle.”

“What?”

“She means puddle,” said Tony. “Leona, listen to me. Do you remember anything that might tell us where th
at puddle is?”

“I know
when we came out, I thought the doctor smelled like manure.”

“The stables!” said Carlos.
“I saw water out behind the stables earlier.”

Jerome turned quickly and
yelled, “Alphadyte come. You run now!”

“How many?”

“One.”

“
Just one?”

“
One. More follow. You go now!”

We
scattered and ran to the back of the stables. To our dismay, we found not one, but dozens of various sized mud puddles. Some were as small as trashcan lids; others were pond-sized, twenty feet across and several feet deep.

“Which one?” said Tony, holding Leona by the shoulders and shaking her lightly. “Tell us. Was it a big one? A small one?”

Carlos said, “They’re coming. Hurry.”

“Leona!” Tony turned her towards the field of puddles. “Which one?”

“It is that one,” she said, pointing at the largest of the bunch.

“That one? Are you sure?”

“Yes. I am sure, I think. That is the one.”

“Okay. Go!”

Tony palmed Leona in the small of her back and pushed her into the muddy water. She stumbled forward several steps and then disappeared entirely.

“That’s it,” he said. “
Next.” He grabbed Ursula by the hand and yanked her to the water’s edge. “Go!” He pushed her in. She slipped into the invisible hole like a breath of wind.

“Carlos?”

“No, Tony. Not before Lilith.”

“I know that. I’m going to need you to help me toss Lilith in. She won’t go before me, otherwise.”

“Damn straight,” I said, and I began telling him all the reasons why I should go last when the two of them grabbed my arms and pitched me into the puddle.

I remember little about the actual transit through the portal, except for
that gut-wrenching sensation of falling. I popped out of the portal back at the research center, up on the second floor where it all started. Dominic was there to help me back up.

“Come on, Lilith.” He
lifted me to my feet. “Make room for Carlos and Tony.”

He usher
ed me aside to where Leona and Ursula were waiting. Their eyes, like mine, were still adjusting to the bright workmen lights that Dominic had set up on a generator.

“You girls all right?” I asked.

“Aye,” said Ursula. “But for bumps on our bumps, we fare well, and thee?”

“I’m fine. Thanks.”

“Coming through!” said Dominic. “Stand back!”

I turned
around to see Dominic poised in front of the mirror ready to catch the next traveler. It was Carlos. I recognized him by his warrior uniform. He appeared tiny at first, just a dot in the distance, tumbling blindly towards us and growing larger by the second.

We stood back and watched him pop out of the glass, rippling the image ever
so slightly before spilling out onto the floor. He landed with a heavy thump and unfolded like a rolled-up carpet.

“Carlos!” I ran to him. Dominic was
there already, helping him to his feet. “Are you okay?”

He looked great, not a day older. Oddly, he still
sported a week-old beard.

“Damn!” he said. “Why is it so bright in here?”

I laughed. “It’s the magic of halogen. Beautiful, isn’t it?”

“
Halogen. Right. I love halogen.”

“I know. Me, too. Come on. We have to
make room for Tony. Where is he?”

“He’s coming. He and Jerome were concocting a plan to throw off the alphadytes.”

“Jerome?” said Dominic. “Alphadytes? Just what exactly happened to you guys in there? And what are you wearing?”

Carlos laughed.
“You wouldn’t believe the half of it, Dom. I tell you, these past few days I––”

“Days?”

“Yeah, why? Don’t tell me it’s been weeks.”

“Weeks? Carlos, you’ve
only been gone a few hours.”

“What?”

“I only now just got back with the explosives and got them all set up.”

“You have the place rigged to blow?”
I asked.

“Sky high. Just like you
told me.”

“That’s good,
because you need to light the fuse the instant Tony comes through that portal.”

“
Why?”

Carlos said, “Because there’s a dozen
bad-ass alphadytes behind him that are just smart enough to figure out what happened to us, and angry enough to follow Tony back here.”

“And we don’t want that,” I
said. “Trust me.”

Just as I said that, Tony rolled out of the
mirror onto his ass. He appeared dazed, but none the worse for the wear and tear.

“Tony! Tony, talk to me. Are you all right?”

“I’m good. Damn. Why is it so bright in here?”

“Never mind. You’ll get use to it.
Is anyone following you?”

“Yes! Yes.
The whole damn town is coming. Lilith, we have to do something.”

“We got it under control
. Dominic. How long is that fuse of yours?”

“It’s about ninety seconds.”

“Light it. Carlos. Give me a hand with Tony.”

Tony wav
ed off the help. “I’m all right.” He managed to get to his feet on his own. “Come on, everybody. Get outside, now. Don’t stop until I say so.”

“You heard the man,” I said.
“Everyone. Vamoose. Dominic. I told you to light that fuse!”

Dominic
lit a match and put it to the fuse.

We all
bugged out like scared rabbits. I had never run down those old oak stairs so fast in my life. Even still, I wasn’t as quick as Carlos and Dominic, who nearly bowled me over once I reached the bottom.

Out in the parking lot, Tony took a head count
. “Okay, everyone’s here,” he said. “Let’s move it to the back of the lot. Get as far away as––”

“Dam
nit!” I said. “My key.”

“What?”

I patted myself down to make sure I wasn’t mistaken. “I dropped the witch’s key. Must have been when I rolled out of the portal.”