Southern fury, p.20
Southern Fury, page 20
Madame Ti touched the second corner of the triangle. “For nature.”
No. Mother Hope had said her final words with vindictive pride. This whole spell of Madame Ti’s had one purpose. To take that finger and return it to full flesh. Exactly the same thing Max wanted for himself.
Madame Ti touched the final corner. “For Earth.”
Not only was the spell supposed to bring the finger into the corporeal world, but Madame Ti had cut out her eye to give her the strength to break Mother Hope and Grandma Mobley’s curse. If Mother Hope wanted this to happen, then she must have expected something else to occur. Perhaps ... Could it be that simple? Could he use the spell, too?
Drummond started to speak, but Max waved him off and drifted closer. He watched Madame Ti like a skeptic watching the deft maneuvers of a sleight-of-hand artist. He had to time things right.
Before he could think through it further, Madame Ti raised her bloodied hand. He knew she would bring it down upon the writing on the floor and the spell would go off. It was all happening at this moment. No time to weigh out the choices.
His gut told him to go for it. As Madame Ti brought her hand down, Max shot forward. When the hand hit the floor, he leapt into the triangle.
Chapter 29
MAX JOLTED UPRIGHT. In the attic. In his body.
His heart pounded in his chest — and he could feel it. He could feel the rhythm of his heart pumping blood through his body. Peering down, he could see his chest rise and fall with each breath. His mouth tasted dry and dusty.
He brought his hand to his lips and prodded his fingers with the tip of his tongue. Salty, dirty, and wonderful. He fell back, his mouth open wide, and the glory of his body hitting the wooden floor and not falling through became a momentary religious experience. He glimpsed what some followers must feel at a church revival or a gospel service — that overwhelming emotion which forced one to jump in the aisle dancing or fall to the ground weeping. He was alive, whole, returned from the fate he thought he would never escape.
He felt something in his other hand. Sitting up, he opened his fingers to find an extra finger — William Crutchfield’s made whole. He remembered — he grabbed it just as Madame Ti’s spell went off.
It worked. The spell made them both whole. The spell had destroyed Mother Hope’s curse upon him.
Looking to his right, he saw Grandma Mobley’s clothes and a layer of dust that had once been her body. Such a waste. All those years spent trying to manipulate people and control outcomes, all those years building her power base, and in the end, reduced to a pile of hate-filled ashes.
Rising to his feet, Max attempted to walk to the ladder. He weaved and his head had trouble staying straight up. Like being intoxicated. Like the results of too many punches to the head. But he pushed onward. He paused only when he reached Mother Hope.
She moved. A little, but a clear movement. With a grunt, she pushed up onto her elbows. With a dazed look, she said, “Thank you.”
“You knew I’d do this? That I’d jump into that spell?”
“I believe they call it a Hail Mary. I couldn’t know for sure what you would do, but it was the only move I had left. Besides, I always win.”
Max’s newly pounding heart dropped. This horrible evil had returned and what could he do?
She coughed. Then she coughed again. Her brow tightened. “Something’s not right.”
Her skin turned sandy brown and her eyes snapped open wide. “Madame Ti,” she whispered as her lips flaked off. In seconds, she disintegrated. Less than the ash that had been Grandma Mobley, all that stayed behind of Mother Hope was her clothing.
Max watched the pile of clothes until he felt certain that she was finally gone. He put his hand on the top rung of the ladder and swung his leg down. The momentum brought him around too fast. The world spun and he dropped through the air. His foot caught on one rung and banged on another. His arms clobbered against the wood. The rung broke free and he tumbled. When he hit the floor, the wind rushed from his lungs but nothing broke. His befuddled state must have relaxed his body enough that he flopped down like a rag doll.
Drummond rushed into the room. “Look at you.” He clapped his hands together once. “When I saw you jump into that spell, I thought that was the last time I’d ever see you. That may have been the craziest thing I’ve ever witnessed. Pretty stupid, too.”
Groaning as he pushed himself back to a sitting position, Max said, “It worked. Mother Hope gave me the idea.”
“Yeah? I wouldn’t question it. I learned long ago to take a win when you get one. We still have enough problems not to turn our noses up at a good moment like this. I’m glad you’re okay. I’m glad you’re back.”
“Got a bonus, too.” Max held up Crutchfield’s finger.
“Well, I’ll be.”
A disorienting wave rolled up from his stomach and spread over his head. Bile raced up his throat, and as he swallowed it down, the bitter taste and acidic burn had never been so pleasant. He was alive. And even the less desirable parts of that statement brought him joy. For the moment.
“Come on,” Drummond said. “We still have work to do.”
Bumbling through the house, bumping door jambs and weaving into walls, Max made his way toward the front of the house. Long before he reached them, he heard Cecily’s clipped tones as she berated Madame Ti for failure.
Stepping into the room, he saw Madame Ti wrapping a cloth around her head to cover her eye. No mistaking the simmering anger on her face. He said, “Though I love hearing you lay into that witch, I’ve got to tell you that she succeeded.” He held up Crutchfield’s finger.
“I see,” Cecily said, her anger shifting to greedy excitement. “Hand it over. We had a deal.”
Max closed his fist around the finger. “You have another deal, too. One you made with Crutchfield.”
“I have full faith that Madame Ti has fulfilled our end of that bargain.”
Max turned towards Drummond, using most of his strength to keep from falling over.
“Stay standing,” Drummond said. “I’ll check it out.”
The few seconds his partner needed to float outside and return with news stretched into an eternity. The urge to curl up next to Sandra and close his eyes kept singing to him. It would be simple. And pleasurable, too. But Max gave his head a quick shake and attempted to refocus. There would be time to sleep later.
Drummond reappeared in the doorway. “She told the truth. The ghosts are all free. Most are rushing into the woods to find where their bodies were buried.”
Still in the casting circle so that all could see him, Crutchfield bowed his head. “Thank you. You did an honorable thing today.”
Cecily said, “Perhaps this will prove to you that I have good intentions with the way the Hull family will guide witchcraft in the future.”
“Plenty of evil has been borne from good intentions. But if you continue to do good, I’ll have no quarrel. If not, then you’ll be seeing me again. You won’t like that.”
Crutchfield spent the time to lock eyes with every person in the room. Max got the message — Crutchfield’s words were not meant solely for Cecily Hull. When he finished holding his threatening gaze with Drummond, the ghost gave his mustache one final grooming stroke and slipped away from view.
Max said to Drummond, “Did he just move on?”
“He went outside. He’s talking with a few ghosts that stuck around. Given everything we know about him, I can’t say whether he’ll get to move on or not. On the one hand, he did a lot of good to protect people from evil. On the other hand, witches or not, he murdered a lot of women. And you know, the rules about the whole moving on thing aren’t made that much clearer once you get where I am. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.”
Cecily Hull put out her hand. “You see that I honored my end of the deal. Your turn now. Hand over the finger.”
Before Max could step toward Cecily, Drummond blocked him with an arm. “Something’s happening here.”
Max held back. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” Cecily said. “Give me Crutchfield’s finger.”
“I wasn’t talking to you.”
Drummond said, “One of the ghosts came in. A young girl. She looks very angry.”
Sick Girl. “What’s she doing?” Not being able to see her anymore left Max with a queasy crawl along his skin.
Madame Ti dropped to the floor as Drummond said, “She swiped her hand through the witch’s head. That’s it. She’s gone.”
It took Madame Ti a few seconds to regain consciousness, but she got back on her feet. “I suppose that would be under the heading of no good deed goes unpunished.” Letting her gaze envelope the room, she added, “You listen to me, ghost. I killed Mother Hope. Don’t think I can’t get to you.”
Tapping her foot, Cecily wiggled the fingers of her open hand. “Don’t make me ask again.”
“Stop.” The voice chilled Max’s skin — not only because of its fierce command but because of where it came from. Behind him.
Sandra rose from the couch. She did not stumble. She did not sway. With her hands out as if ready to cast a spell, she stood firm and tall with her eyes concentrating on Madame Ti.
Drummond tipped back his hat. “Huh. Looks like that girl did us a little favor.”
Indeed. When Sick Girl attacked Madame Ti, she knocked the witch unconscious for a few precious seconds. Max had not realized it at the time, but it was clear now — Madame Ti needed to be conscious in order to maintain her control over Sandra’s state. Earlier, when Sick Girl dazed Madame Ti with a blow of wood to the head, Sandra stirred. Max wondered if Sick Girl understood then what needed to be done. He grinned. Thank you, Sick Girl.
Max rushed over and scooped Sandra up into a tight hug. Tears rolled down his cheeks as he kissed her hair. But she wriggled free and stepped away. He could see it on her face — she wanted to fold into his arms, but there would be time for affection later. They still had to survive the next few minutes.
“Our boys,” Sandra said, glowering at Cecily. “The deal was that Max would get you the finger in exchange for our boys.”
Max turned back. “That’s right. And I know for a fact that you have not heard from the men who took PB and J.”
“I’m sure they are fine,” Cecily said, looking anything but sure.
“Once we can confirm —”
“Enough of this,” Madame Ti said as she approached.
Sandra pushed in front of Max and raised her hands. “When it comes to those boys, you do not want to mess with me.”
“Oh, come now. We both know that you can’t —”
A deluge of energy lashed out of Sandra’s hands. It knocked Madame Ti back several steps until she pressed up against the far wall. Cecily inched away, her eyes wide and concerned.
Sandra said, “Just because you had me unconscious doesn’t mean I was asleep. I couldn’t get myself to fully awaken, but I was aware of — well, some things, anyway.”
Drummond snickered. “Doll, you’re one of the greatest. Using all that time to prep up a spell so it was ready to go off at a moment’s notice. I love it.”
Max said, “We want our boys. Sandra has had plenty of time to store up quite a few spells. You don’t want to test that.” He had no clue if Sandra had the skill to hold more than one spell at a time, but he guessed his confidence would cause Madame Ti and Cecily a second thought.
“Hold on, hold on,” Drummond said. “Call Irene Beck. She was supposed to come here to pick up the boys so that you wouldn’t have to worry about them. But I was too late getting to her. She should have arrived, though. There’s only one road in and out of here, so it’s possible that she knows what happened to them. Maybe she saw them being taken away and decided to follow. Maybe she had a gunfight with them. We didn’t hear anything, but it was hard to hear much over the battle. I don’t know, but it’s strange that she didn’t call you.”
Max checked his phone. No messages. He called Irene, and in a few short moments, he had the most wonderful answers to share with Sandra. “The boys are safe,” Max said. “She was coming up the road to pick them up when Cecily’s thugs came the other way. She says she sensed the boys were in there and in trouble. You’re not going to believe this part — she ran them off the road.”
“I believe it,” Drummond said. “There’s a reason I like that gal.”
“Anyway, the boys jumped in the car with her, and they took off. She didn’t call us because she didn’t know if we were compromised in any way. She figured we would call her when everything was okay or that she’d hear from Drummond.”
Keeping her eyes on Madame Ti, Sandra’s voice tightened. “For real, hon? The boys are okay?”
Max placed a hand on her shoulder. “They’re just fine. You can let the witch go.”
Sandra dropped her hands, releasing Madame Ti. Nestling her face in Max’s chest, Sandra shuddered. He had never felt so wonderful holding her at that moment. Both of them were alive, the boys were okay — his mind whirled high. They had survived. He had Sandra in his arms, and that was all that mattered.
Cecily Hull shattered that illusion. “Now that we have dispensed with all of your objections and stalling, hand over the finger or we’ll test how strong your witch is against mine.”
Max stepped away from Sandra, gave her a quick wink, and turned to Cecily. He handed over the finger. “I wasn’t stalling. Merely trying to make sure you lived up to your end of the bargain.”
“You and Crutchfield and, I imagine everybody else, must understand that things have changed. There is a new order around here. My name is Hull but I am not one of the men who came before me. When I give my word, it will be followed through on. It will never be broken.”
“Good to know. How about you give me your word that you will never use witchcraft to hurt anybody?”
With a malicious grin, Cecily handed the finger to Madame Ti. “You have caused too much damage over the years and I have to fix it. I’ve learned that sometimes you have to break things a little before you can fix them properly. But I will give my word on this — the days of warring covens and ad hoc witch hunters is over. There will be a few rough weeks coming ahead, yet once the word is made clear that I am in charge, we should have a nice, stable environment where witchcraft is not going to be tossed about without care.”
“I can’t tell if that’s a threat or a promise.”
With a playful shrug, Cecily said, “Maybe a little of both.”
Max didn’t think Cecily would be as tough a Hull as she thought of herself, and that left him wondering if they had traded one power vacuum for another. Then again, Madame Ti might be tough enough to take that spot.
As Cecily left, Madame Ti moved in front of Sandra. She thrust out her fist and Sandra jumped back. Madame Ti smirked.
“I guess you didn’t have any spells waiting.”
Sandra shrugged. “A bluff only works when the other person is willing to believe. Guess you have an idea of how dangerous I could be, if you were that afraid.”
Madame Ti shook her head like a teacher knowing her student had a hard road ahead. “You better be nice to me. After all, I am going to be the Queen of Covens.” She followed Cecily outside.
Max put his hand out toward his lovely wife. “I guess that means —”
Sandra took hold of Max’s wrist and pulled him close. Their lips pressed tight and their arms held tighter. Not even Drummond’s complaining could make Max leave that warm embrace.
Chapter 30
WHILE THEY WAITED FOR IRENE to return with the boys, Max, Sandra, and Drummond moved about the battlefield to help those who had survived. The red smoke had drifted away and dawn approached. With this new view, Max saw how small the cleared area around the house had actually been.
The ground had been turned up from trampling feet, and in many places blood had soaked the clay into a muddy brown mixture. Many of the bodies had been removed — the Magi and Mobleys cared for their own both in an effort to properly bury their dead but also to avoid leaving evidence that would trace back to them. The air smelled of burnt wood. Max’s nostrils stung from another scent — a bitter odor like old oil. He guessed it was the stench of numerous magic spells going off in such a short period of time. Either that or somebody’s car needed a serious tune-up.
Near the embers of the Mobley fire, Sandra helped an older coven sister to her feet. Max had never been more proud or more terrified when he saw Sandra take on Madame Ti. But the tenderness she displayed helping the Mobley witch back to her car gave him every confidence in her strength of will. He had doubted her many times when it came to her studies in witchcraft, but nothing in him worried for her anymore. She might be the only good witch in the entire world, but that was okay with him. After all, she was his wife.
“What have you got to smile about?” Lena Mobley said as she staggered towards Max.
“Your war is over and nobody won. I think that’s a victory for me.”
“Cecily Hull won. Smart woman. I saw her leave just a little bit ago. She made sure I saw her. She wanted me to know who is in charge now. Did a smart thing playing us against each other. Now, the coven is gone. Jessica, myself, and Rachel over there — we’re all that remain.”
“You could take a lesson from all of this. Consider it the final bit of wisdom Grandma Mobley could ever give you.”
“And that is?”
“You witches love to hold grudges. Love to hold power over people for the slightest infraction against you. That’s what happened here and it destroyed you. The Magi, too. Grandma Mobley and Mother Hope could not forgive each other for whatever problems they’ve had over the last century. Their lust for power and their inflexibility led to this past night. Cecily Hull merely lit the fuse, but you witches built up all the combustibles long, long before.”
“Are you suggesting I turn my back on who I am? Walk away from being a witch?”
“Not at all.” Max would have liked that but he held no illusion that such a thing was possible. “I’m merely suggesting that nobody needs to ever fight like this again. A lot of lives were wasted here, and even if you had won, what would you have gained? Your coven had a nice little home in a small part of the world carved out for you to live in — now, it’s an empty house for empty lives. You had the freedom to move about and live the way you wanted. Isn’t that what everybody wants? Why do you have to have more? Why can’t you simply let the other witches have their space?”
