A Tale of 3 Witches (5 page)

*   *   *

"According to this guy we talked to, this is the only time of the year the Soul Stealer can roam the night undetected. It is when he is most dangerous. Some people think he's in costume, others think he's a shadow. Wherever he goes, people fall into a coma, followed by death." Gus said when they returned to Amethyst, filling everyone in on their trip. It's usually blamed on tainted candy."

Stacy shook her head, confused. "That's why he's doing it on Halloween? Because he can blame it on the candy?"

"That's just a perk. The real reason is because people are more vulnerable when they're guising," Gus replied.

Stacy turned to Mara, still looking confused.

"Otherwise known as wearing masks and costumes," Mara explained. "It's like they're already sharing their body with whatever they're dressed up as. It makes their souls that much easier to prey on, since the attachment is looser."

"What does he do with the poor souls?" Lolly asked.

"Serves them as a wake-up snack to the Soul Eater," Gus said, grimly. "Once the beast is fortified with the energy from those souls, the coming winter will be hell on earth. Literally."

*   *   *

Since it was Halloween, the aunts set big, full bowls of candy outside on the porch so they wouldn't be disturbed during the evening's work by intrepid trick-or-treaters. They had tried checking on Mr. Henderson, under the guise of offering him dinner, but the bedroom doors were locked. Only an odd, chanting monotone let them know that Henderson was still inside. And no matter how much they knocked (or barked, in the case of Thor), the chanting never stopped. As it continued, Gus told anyone who would listen, it was just creepy and getting creepier. Even Thor refused to go near the door anymore.

*   *   *

Deep in the basement, underneath the Geraghty Girls' house, Fiona's, (now Tillie-less) body lay by a large, fire-filled black cauldron, on a flocked air mattress, still unconscious, but covered in blankets to keep her warm.

Mara, Stacy and Gus sat on the floor, forming an inner circle around Fiona. They were deep in meditation, preparing to enter a trance. Stacy held the dagger, Mara gripped the crystal wand and Gus wielded the sword. All three items were charged with an herbal mixture of toadflax (for hex-breaking), mugwort (for astral projection), dragon's blood (for power) and myrrh (for protection). The three of them were so focused on what they were about to do, they were barely aware of what was happening in the rest of the room.

Forming a slightly larger circle around them, Birdie, Lolly and three of the coveners joined hands. Then, the remaining seven members of the coven joined hands to form an outer circle around the entire grouping.

"We're all clear on what we need to do, right?" Lolly asked. "The inner circle forms a layer of protection around the center. The outer ring is the battery, generating power and force."

Birdie's face was stoic as she continued the instructions. "Stacy's going to use her visions to locate Fiona's soul. Mara's going to create a portal between the visions and this dimension. Gus will travel with them to provide protection. Together, they're going to retrieve the soul and send it back here."

"We hope," Lolly muttered.

Birdie glared at her, and then at everyone else. "I don't want any screw-ups," Birdie said forcefully. "This is a dangerous night. Lives will hang in the balance."

Lolly nodded. Birdie signaled the coven and the outer ring started chanting and circling, around and around and around.

After a few minutes, the vibrations from the chanting shook the space and suddenly Mara, Gus and Stacy felt the floor drop out from under them. Then the ceiling cracked open, and their psyches separated from their bodies as they journeyed out into the depths of Halloween night.

*   *   *

When the motion stopped, they examined their surroundings. They were outside Mr. Henderson's room, only the color scheme of the hallway was reversed somehow. The carpet was gold with navy vines instead of the other way around. The room number was
owt
rather than
two
, and the door knob was on the left instead of the right side of the door.

"Can you feel that? He's opened a portal," Mara whispered behind Stacy.

Stacy jumped. She hadn't noticed Mara there a second ago. Stacy concentrated and she could suddenly feel a heavy vibration on the other side of the door.

"To where?" Stacy asked.

"Let's find out." Gus walked through the door and the girls followed.

Henderson was nowhere in sight. But in the middle of the room, an immense black hole bubbled and oozed on the floor.

Gus knelt down and looked at the bubbling mass. "Tartarus. The demon dimension. Oh, yeah. This is going to be a fun night."

Mara sucked in a breath. "Has anything come through?"

Gus sniffed. "Nope. No smell of sulphur or brimstone. Yet."

"Then where is he?" Mara asked. "He was up here forever doing that chanting."

"He must have gone out, collecting souls. Where's the largest crowd of people bound to be?"

Stacy shrugged thinking that trick-or-treaters could be spread out everywhere. But then she noticed a flyer for the big Halloween parade on the desk. "I think I know where he is."

"Great. Let's go," Mara said.

"I can't leave here. Not with that big mucking vortex on the floor." Gus turned back to the girls. "You two go without me. I'll stay here and be the unwelcome wagon for whatever unholy Soul-Eater tries to come through that portal." He swung his sword, as if he was cleaving a demon in half. "It's going to have to deal with the wrath of Gus."

Mara and Stacy weren't keen on leaving him to deal with demons on his own, but they had no time to argue.

Stacy wondered how they were going to get to the parade grounds in time when he had such a big head-start. Suddenly, she saw a picture in her mind and she got a sudden flash of intuition.

Stacy grabbed Mara's hand, clamped her eyes shut and concentrated on conjuring the image of the street in front of the library. That was ground zero for the parade. Everyone was going to walk from the library to the park afterwards, for food, drink and festivities.

Stacy's breath came in long waves as she focused.

Finally, the room faded.

Then it ceased to exist.

Suddenly Stacy was in front of the library. This time, she felt Mara squeezing through the vision with her and they dropped onto the grass, in front of a sprawling oak tree.

But it was too late.

They both looked around them in horror, at all the costumed young bodies scattered on the ground, surrounded by anxious and grief-stricken family and friends. In the distance, the sound of sirens wailed through the night.

"I see him. He's ahead of us," Mara yelled, and started to run. Stacy followed, hand on the hilt of her dagger, jumping over fallen trick-or-treaters. As they darted through the parade route, Stacy saw the shadowy Mr. Henderson.

"There! I see him!" Stacy yelled.

Mr. Henderson touched a smoking bystander briefly. As he did, he pulled a glowing, filmy substance from the person's body and stuffed it into his coat pocket.

"Is that what I think it is?!" Stacy asked, shocked.

Mara spoke rapidly as she ran. "Those are the souls he's stealing for the Soul Eater. We can't let him get back to the B&B. Gus won't be able to take on both the Soul Stealer and the Soul Eater by himself. And once the Soul Eater is fed ..."

"Hell on earth. Got it," Stacy said, quickly drawing her dagger out of its sheath and accidentally lopping a jack-o-lantern head off a store display.

Pumpkin guts splattered through the girls' astral bodies and onto the sidewalk.

*   *   *

Outside the park, they finally caught up to Mr. Henderson, before he could enter the festival. At first, he looked shocked to see Stacy.

Then he sneered. "You can't touch me, Seeker. I am not bound to this plane." His lip curled over his teeth, exposing yellowed fangs. "But I can touch you."

As he reached out to her, Stacy took a deep breath, focused all her belief into the dagger and swung it over her head to cast a circle of protection. Then she sliced it right through Henderson's arm.

Stacy felt a moment of panic, thinking that it hadn't worked. His arm was still attached, as if she had never cut him. But when he touched her ... nothing happened.

The Soul Stealer looked down at his hand, perplexed for a few beats. It was limp.

Stacy's eyes widened. It was as if the dagger had severed the magical connection between his physical arm and the entity that was riding him. This was going to make things a lot easier. Stacy had been worried that it was going to be blood and guts and gore, but a magickal dagger was a lot easier on her psyche, to wield.

While the Soul Stealer was distracted, Mara jumped at the opportunity. With her crystal wand, she was snagging souls from the Stealer's pocket as fast as she could, flinging them into the wind with an incantation to send them home.

The Soul Stealer jumped away, suddenly realizing what was happening. "You will pay for that. You will both pay!" His face twisted in rage. "You think you've won, but I only need one soul to bring Him forth. And I still have the soul I started with."

He threw a handful of powder on the ground.

The flash momentarily blinded both Stacy and Mara.

"Fiona!" Stacy cried as they coughed and struggled through the smoke.

 Once they could see again, Henderson was gone.

"Back to the B&B. That's the only place he could have gone," Mara said.

Stacy grabbed Mara and focused on the B&B.

*   *   *

When they materialized in Mr. Henderson's room, he was chanting and swaying over Gus, who was pinned to the floor by an invisible force, the sword just out of his reach.

"You're too late," the Soul Stealer announced, sensing their presence.

"Wrong, douchebag," Gus said, pulling the words out from deep within him. "As long as I'm breathing, it's never too late." His fingers reached, stretching themselves to the breaking point to get that sword, but they fell short.

Stacy drew her dagger and approached Mr. Henderson from one end of the vortex. Mara circled and approached from the other side, a tight grip on her wand.

Mr. Henderson chanted faster, sweat pouring down his face. But the work the coven was doing in the basement was interfering with his attempt to destroy Gus and pull the Soul Eater through the vortex.

Mr. Henderson grabbed the last soul from his pocket and gave the women a menacing look.

"Fiona!" Stacy cried.

"Don't come any closer!" he shouted. "Or I drop her in the vortex for the Soul Eater to consume."

While he was focused on Stacy, Mara lunged and snatched Fiona's soul with her wand. But as she did, Mr. Henderson grabbed Mara with his good hand, and lifted her in the air. He dangled her spirit over the abyss like a rag doll.

"I think the Soul Eater will like you even better." Mr. Henderson laughed, in a hollow, booming voice.

Mara squeaked, hurling Fiona's spirit and the wand to Stacy. "Take her back to the coven! Hurry!"

Stacy caught the wand, the filmy gossamer pulsating on the tip of the crystal. "I can't leave you!"

"You have to!" Mara gasped as she struggled against Mr. Henderson. "Use the wand to get Fiona's soul back in her body. Hurry! Or this will all have been for nothing."

Stacy closed her eyes and focused on the gathering in the basement. When she opened her eyes, Fiona's body was on the floor in front of her, slumped over, unconscious.

"He's got Mara and Gus!" Stacy screamed. "They need more power!" She recalled the incantation Mara had used at the park and she quickly chanted it under her breath. Then Stacy used the wand to fling the shimmery gossamer web at her aunt's chest.

Fiona stirred, color and warmth rushing into her skin.

Great. One down, two to go, Stacy thought, looking over at Mara's and Gus's bodies. They were starting to turn blue.

Stacy was so dizzy the room was spinning. But she had to concentrate for one last astral trip. She had to go back for Mara and Gus. She swallowed and closed her eyes to keep from throwing up. Then she concentrated on Henderson's room.

*   *   *

Henderson's room fizzled into focus, but just barely. Stacy could see Mara struggling. Punching, biting and kicking Henderson as he throttled her. He seemed to be enjoying their physical challenge, but when Stacy made it all the way back through, back into his room, he growled and lifted Mara high over the gaping, bubbling black vortex again.

"
No
!" Stacy screamed.

Mr. Henderson let go, laughing.

Stacy leapt over the vortex. The force of her charge knocked Mara from the center of the vortex and sent her flying across the room.

 As Stacy landed on the other side of the vortex, she twisted and plunged her dagger into Mr. Henderson's stomach.

The ephemeral blade shimmered, then flashed like a lightning bolt as it entered him.

He stumbled, then laughed maniacally as Stacy pulled the blade out and the wound instantly healed. "You can't hurt me, Seeker. I am immortal."

"You have to sever the connection!" Mara yelled.

"What?!" As Stacy evaded the Soul Stealer, she was able to kick the sword to Gus's outstretched hand.

As soon as his fingers closed around the sword's hilt, Gus was able to throw off the enchantment that the Soul Stealer had laid on him.

Mara yelled, "Cut the head off the snake!"

Gus let out a warrior yell as he roared up off the floor. Then, in one sweep, he leapt up in a twisting motion, sliced the sword right through Henderson's spinal column at the base of his neck, and landed on his feet.

Stacy halfway expected blood and tissue and body fluids to spurt from Henderson, but that's not at all what the three of them saw.

What they saw was a white light, like a fourth of July sparkler, popping out from every cell of Henderson's body. Then the body slumped to the floor, unconscious, and the vortex immediately sucked into itself and disappeared.

Stacy, Mara and Gus looked at each other.