Last Witch Standing (Mountain Witch Saga) (9 page)

She was glad the sorceress didn’t want to fly to the store.
The walk did Rachel good and allowed her to slowly and peacefully re-acclimate
herself to this world. The air was not so clean as it was on Pangea – not even
in the forest and foothills they passed through, retracing the steps Rachel had
taken so long before, but it was refreshing, nevertheless.

When they reached the freeway, Katie grabbed Rachel’s hand
and they hopped onto the back of a truck headed towards Melville. The driver
didn’t notice – their mass on Earth was negligible and the landing made little
noise. In any case, Katie used the power to mirror the background behind their
silhouettes, making them effectively invisible.

The wind whipped their hair as the truck sped down the
freeway. Rachel stared at the vehicles around them, no longer used to the noise
and pollution from their exhaust. Nobody could see her – thanks to Katie’s
sorcery – so Rachel stood up as far as she could in the truck’s bed. Beside
them, potted plants tied together, price tags attached to their stems, vibrated
gently from the truck’s movement. Either the driver was returning from a
nursery or was going to one to make a delivery. Rachel breathed in the scent of
white roses. If Katie kept her prisoner and they returned to Pangea, she would
ask the sorceress if they could start a flower garden.

The pair jumped off when they reached the Melville exit. Rachel
looked left and right as they made their way into town. It was the same, she
knew, but she
wasn’t
the same. How trivial her problems with her
adoptive parents seemed now!

The Melville Barnes and Noble bookstore was two stories and
contained a coffee shop. Katie left her at the front and went straight to the
science periodicals while Rachel browsed the discount tables, glancing at the
other customers from time to time to see if there were any she recognized from
her time in Melville. She had no money on her –- no Earth money. This wouldn’t
bother Katie, as the sorceress would simply take what she wanted, using the
Power to mask her theft, but Rachel would not do this. Maybe if she found something
she really liked, the sorceress would produce the necessary greenbacks.

At the corner of one of the discount tables sat a stack of
large, coffee table books on roses. Rachel went to these and thumbed through
them. She had forgotten the delightful and promising new book smell. How she
had missed bookstores and libraries during her captivity!

After satiating herself with pictures of roses; white, red
and pink, Rachel went upstairs to the math and science section. A child
struggled to reach a book on the top shelf. Rachel turned to help the little
girl with the volume.

“Here, I’ll get it for you.” Rachel looked down at the
child. The figure looked up at her. It was Annalisse. Annalisse, Queen of the
Upper Mountain Witches.

Rachel froze.

“Come with me, child-witch,” Annalisse spoke softly. “It is
time for you to make your escape from that being. My sisters are here and we
are prepared for your escape.”

The Present

Earth

Queen Annalisse led Rachel to the back of the store.
Several Upper Mountain Witches were gathered by the window; all dressed crudely
in burlap dresses. One carried a sack, which she opened upon seeing Rachel, and
pulled a woven hemp ladder from.

I will shield you from the Power while my
sisters lead you down the ladder. We will meet up later. Follow the
instructions of my sisters.
Queen Annalisse spoke directly
into Rachel’s mind.

Rachel nodded.

Trudy, the Upper Mountain Witch who had found Rachel on
Pangea, cut a hole through the large, plate glass window. When the opening was
large enough for Rachel, two Upper Mountain Witches secured the line to the
window ledge with stakes from the burlap bag.

Trudy went first to test the line. When she reached the
bottom, Lissette and Cossette –those witches had spoken their own names directly
into Rachel’s mind so she would know them – motioned for Rachel to follow.

She tested the line. It was thin and she did not see how
the green jumping jack shaped stakes could hold – they were smaller than her
thumb – but she did as instructed. These witches had their ways and they would
certainly take her size into account.

The outdoor air greeted her as she climbed out the window.
She forced herself not to look down – though she thought it crazy to fear
heights after all the flying she had done with Katie.

At the bottom, she released the line and the two witches
pulled the line bit back up. How were they going to get down?

A moment later, Lissette climbed down the side of the
building, like a supernatural mountain climber, Dracula scaling the walls of
his castle. When she was halfway down, Cossette stood on the rail. She held the
cut windowpane in her hands. Rachel watched as she fit it into the hole and
taped the edges, circling around. It stuck and no seam was visible from below.
Once done, Cossette likewise scaled the wall.

These witches respect private property.

With Rachel in tow, they ran through the parking lot,
avoiding areas where they could be seen from inside the bookstore. Katie would
probably still be upfront – whenever she got hold of a new copy of
Scientific
American
, she usually sat mesmerized, reading the issue cover to cover,
noticing nothing in her surroundings. Nevertheless, she was a very powerful
sorceress and Rachel, not taking any chances, ran as fast as she could – barely
keeping up with the little witches.

They reached the curb outside the shopping center and a van
pulled up beside them. Rachel recognized the driver – she was the police
officer Rachel encountered the year before in the Melville coffee shop. In the
seat beside her, the man who Rachel had encountered, with his son, at Walmart
on the day she fled her home, moved to the back and opened the sliding door for
them.

They are with Queen Annalisse; I must trust
them. It is strange to see them here, but what about this whole affair hasn’t
been strange?

Nobody said anything. Lissette and Cossette pushed Rachel
in. They followed behind and Dan shut the door. What about Trudy?

Rachel didn’t have to wonder long, for as the van started
from the curb, she heard taps on the roof. Trudy was on top, probably keeping
lookout.

Rachel breathed slowly, making sure not to channel – even
subconsciously. Their escape depended upon Katie not picking up a signal of her
whereabouts. What about Annalisse? Had she been going to fight Katie at the
bookstore?

The police officer turned her head towards Rachel. “Well,
hello young lady. I have been wanting to find you for over a year, now.”

“Hello.” Rachel paused for a moment, then said, “You
obviously must know about Mountain Witches and the Power?”

“Yes. Queen Annalisse summoned me to her world the day
Katie abducted you.”

Rachel turned to Dan Edwards.

“This is all new to me.  I still don’t know how much of it
I believe,” Dan said.

“I’m sorry I got you involved in this,” Rachel said.

“It is not you who involved me. It is Katie. She was my
sister.”

The Present

Earth

Candice drove them to a discount motel on the outskirts of
Melville and parked in the back lot. “This is where we will be staying. It’s
not much, I know, but you’ll be safe here. Queen Annalisse and the Citadel Witches
have shielded it from Katie.”

The asphalt parking lot radiated heat from the summer sun.
Crabgrass grew in the sparsely watered lawn in front of the motel office. The
plate glass windows reflected the freeway and the sign from a Taco Bell
restaurant on the corner.

The concierge set down her magazine when they entered, but
did not rise. The woman’s hair was arranged in a bun, and her dress, with thick
shoulder pads, would have been out of fashion twenty years ago.

“Good afternoon, I’d like a room for two, please.”

The woman rose from behind her desk, came to the counter and,
without a word, pushed a laminated price list towards Candice.

“This one will be fine.” Candice pointed at one of the
boxed specials.

“That’ll be $59.95, plus tax,” the concierge said.

Candice paid and got her keys. The hotel receptionist did
not show them to their quarters and Rachel had to count room numbers to find
it.

“It’s that way, even numbers,” she said.

After settling into the room, Candice walked Rachel to a
coffee shop down the street.

Rachel had so much she wanted to ask them. How were her
sisters among the lower Mountain Witches: Gertrude, Eustice, Agnes? What plan
did the queen of the Upper Mountain Witches have to stop Katie?

“That man. He really is Katie’s brother? I met him and his
son at Walmart a year ago.”

“Yes, we know. I interviewed him when searching for you.”

“Don’t worry about me. I never really fit into this world.”
Rachel noticed Candice looked at her like as one would a ghost. Rachel had to
remember that she was dead in this world.

“Okay.” Candice took a breath before continuing, “Dan was
eleven years old when his little sister died of meningitis in early-1972. He
had a good relationship with her and Queen Annalisse believes we may be able to
shock Katie back into human awareness by presenting him to her.”

“How will you get her to you. Am I to be the bait?”

“Only if you agree to be. Right now, Upper Mountain
Witches, Citadel and Citadel-aligned Witches are pouring into this world. More,
perhaps, than even one such as Katie can handle. Annalisse was wise enough to
choose a place of battle that is to her advantage. She thinks long term. Katie
acts more on the spur of the moment. That gives the queen an advantage.

“How did Queen Annalisse recruit you? How long have you
known about their world?”

“I disappeared to this world about a year ago, around the
time they found your body in the tent. The queen summoned me to the Mountain Witch
world, and I have been there for all but the past month.”

“Did you stay with my sisters, then? How are Gertrude and
Eustice? Agnes?”

“They are fine. I stayed with the Upper Mountain Witches
for most of the time, but I did visit with your friends.”

Rachel looked at Candice. “What are they like, the Upper
Mountain Witches? What kind of homes do they have? I know so little about them.
Today is only the third time I’ve seen Queen Annalisse.”

“Well, some live in caves, others in hollowed out trees. A
few have built cottages into the side of the mountain, using the terrain as
their back wall. There is a flat area of ground, hidden deep in their mountains
where they meet to conduct business. This is rare, though. Most hang out in
groups of two or three witches.”

“Yes, they are very secretive.”

“I wouldn’t say secretive. That is just their way. They are
not social animals,” Candice said.

Rachel paused, then said, “There are just so many
coincidences here – as if someone is manipulating people and events.”

“I know. Karen, from the Citadel, said that the Power seeks
itself out. A sort of quantum entanglement. That is why some cities and towns
have many witches – or potential witches – and other, larger cities may not
have any,” Candice said.

“Still, this is too much of a coincidence that I met them
at Walmart.”

“It is. At some point, Melville became a locus for Katie’s
power. It is possible that the Edward family’s move to Melville was somehow
influenced by the Power. The Gift has a mind of its own, in a way.”

“Well, you now know more about the Power than I do,” Rachel
said.

“Perhaps. Except how to use it.” Candice removed the
emerald necklace and handed it to Rachel to look at.

“I have one of these. Queen Annalisse gave it to me.”

“Yes, I know. It was how we tracked you. The Citadel Witches
have a facility on their world where they can do such things. I have only been
there once, and it is quite impressive – in many ways similar to the Pentagon
in Washington.”

***

Rachel stayed up past midnight. Candice slept peacefully
beside her in the twin bed. Since her “death” Rachel needed much less sleep.
After all, her body was now more energy than matter. She could draw some
strength from food, but most of her energy was obtained from solar energy or
water. She could dip her hand into a warm pool and withdraw the kinetic energy
from the liquid, turning it to ice. It would be great to take a swim. Swim and
withdraw power. The motel had a heated pool. If nobody was there, she could
draw some power out of it – just not so much as to turn it into ice.

She looked down on the sleeping Candice. Would it hurt so
much to go and take a quick dip? They were shielded from Katie, weren’t they?

Rachel grabbed the room key from the nightstand and tiptoed
to the door. She was grateful it didn’t creak as she opened it slowly. A shaft
of light entered the room from the lamps in the hall outside the room.