Body Bags & Blarney (25 page)

CHAPTER TWENTY

Unwilling to
risk the lives of Octavia and her beloved cats, Vivienne had packed the small
altar table and the supplies needed to bless the wand and bring it up to full
charge into a backpack. As she bundled herself up and prepared for the biggest
battle of her life, she couldn’t help but think of Joshua and Hunter waiting
for the moon to rise. According to the information on the shop’s astrological
wall calendar, it was to happen precisely at seven-thirty. With only an hour to
spare before that happened, she called Nana Mary’s apartment from the store’s
landline.

She first
thanked Nana Mary for helping protect Joshua and Hunter. Had it not been for
her lessons in magic, her gentle hand to guide her through the process of
learning what it truly mean to be a practicing witch, she was certain that she
would no longer be amongst the living. But most importantly, she told her how
much she loved her.

“I feel that
every day, darling granddaughter.” Nana Mary had replied. “But it’s always nice
to hear.”

When Joshua
came on the line she fought back tears. “I miss you.”

“I miss you
too, Sweetheart.” Joshua spoke softly. “If there was something I could do to
help, you know I would.”

“I know that
all ready.” Vivienne replied. “But it’s always nice to hear.” She parroted Nana
Mary.

“Moonrise is
coming up soon. Hunter and I are getting ready to head out into the woods.”

“Be careful.”
Vivienne cautioned.

“Please tell
me that the Elder Council gave you a plan to fix this.”

Vivienne
paused for a moment. “Of course they did. It’s a pretty good one too.” She
lied.

“I’m glad.”
Relief flooded Joshua’s voice.

“You know what
the worse part of all this is?” She asked him.

“What’s that?”

“Are you near
a window?”

“Yes.” He
answered.

“Go over and
look out at the town. I mean, really look at it and tell me what you see?”

Joshua was
quiet for a moment as he did what she asked. “I see little homes where families
are playing monopoly and adding up rummy scores.”

“What else?”

Joshua
continued. “I see little children jumping up and down with joy because school
will probably be cancelled for the next few days. In their minds they’re already
designing snow forts and mapping out the best hills to rocket down on their
plastic sleds.”

Vivienne felt
a tear run down her cheek. “I do too.”

“I see a
couple sitting on a cozy couch with a bowl of popcorn, extra butter and salt of
course, watching a movie they’ve both seen a dozen times but never tire of
because it was the first one the ever saw together.”

“Anything
else?” She barely could get the words out.

“But mostly, I
can’t help but see our future.” He finished. “A great big, wonderful, exciting
future where we both keeping asking ourselves how it’s possible to keep finding
new ways to fall in love as the years go by. I see a big house on the lake,
with a pair of well-worn rocking chairs sitting on a wraparound porch. I see
you and I watching our kids collect fireflies inside mason jars and you
instructing them to whisper a wish and release them back into the air so they
can speed their desires into the universe.”
 

“I love you so
much.” She swallowed hard.

“To the moon
and back.” He replied.

“See you
soon.” She battled to keep it together, vowing to use the feelings of love and
devotion to combat the evil ritual about to be completed. She would channel her
desire for a bright future into the magic as she blessed and powered her wand.

“Bet on it.” He
answered.

She hung up
the phone and stood for a moment unable to move. “I am.” She answered.

*
           
*
           
*

She couldn’t
walk in the snow which was now up to her waist in wind-blown drifts. It felt
more like a death march, pushing her way through the snow which was coming down
so hard she could barely make out anything more than two feet in front of her.
The deep cold was mostly kept away from her skin, but she felt chilled none-the
less. With a woolen scarf wrapped around her face, she kept a brisk pace. From
Octavia’s building, it would take at least twenty minutes to walk to the park
in good weather. Given the current conditions, she figured she’d be lucky to
make it in an hour if not a little more. The one small comfort was that thanks to
the fresh snowfall, the reflected light really kept the darkness away. The
familiar streets of Cayuga Cove looked alien now with hedges, fences, and
mailboxes now buried under drifts of white. The sky, however, looked quite
ominous and strange. From high above her head, the clouds where thick and
swirling with a ferocity that she had never seen before. Just looking up at the
rotational pattern, she felt a bit dizzy as if the ground beneath her boots
were rotating. It was most disconcerting, and she made note not to look up too
often. She needed to stay alert for running into items buried under the snow.
One false step could send her head over heels into a picket fence or some other
object that could do some major damage if she fell just right.

When she next
looked at her watch, she was surprised to see it was nearly eight o’clock. She
had reached the end of Lake Shore Drive, but it had been a much slower pace
than she had hoped. However, her spirits were raised when the winds died down
and the snowfall dropped to a fraction of what it had been. It was as if the
universe knew what she needed to do and rewarded her for her patience and
persistence. She seized the moment to walk out a circle in the snow and lay out
the small altar table. Pulling off her gloves, the cold air stung her fingers
and she fought off the urge to put them back on. In order for her blessing
ritual to work, she needed to have direct contact with the item. From the
backpack, she pulled out a silver and a gold candle, to represent the Goddess
and the God, and lit them. As the flames danced in the cold air, she quickly
passed the newly constructed wand through the fire and said a brief blessing.
She drizzled a small vial of water that Octavia had said was charged under the
light of three full moons over the smooth wood and held it aloft. Her bare
hands, which had been growing progressively colder during the ritual, suddenly
warmed. She could feel the magic around her from all the portals. The wand, now
blessed and ready to assist with spells, felt warm to the touch. So much so,
that keeping it firmly in her grip, she was pleased to discover that the cold
weather didn’t bother her at all. She packed them, along with all of the other
altar items, into the backpack and released the circle.

As she reached
the edge of the parking area at the community park along the shoreline of
Cayuga Lake, she hurried her pace and tripped over a buried chain that
connected two posts to mark the boundary of the lot. She rolled sideways into
the snow and disappeared beneath the cold white powder. As she crawled up onto
her knees, the reason for the eerie calm that allowed her to power her wand was
at last revealed. It had not been the universe rewarding her. It was the work
of the bald headed sorcerer and the Elemental currently using Seamus
Kilpatrick’s body.

Along the
snow-covered shoreline, they had arranged a group of black candles into a large
circle. The flames burned deep crimson, remaining lit despite the wind and snow
that blew around them. The bald man was dressed in a dark hooded robe which
fluttered in the wind as he walked backwards along the perimeter, speaking
incantations that powered the profane ritual.

In the center,
the Elemental, stood motionless with his arms raised into the air in an open handed
gesture.

Vivienne
ducked down into the snow, so as not to be noticed. She had been far enough
away for them not to hear her fall, at least she hoped as much.

With a voice
that rattled like the thunder, the Elemental cried out to the heavens in a bizarre
language that made her feel unsettled. It was as if the very words themselves
were so infused with evil, it made any living thing with even a shred of
goodness inside want to turn away with revulsion.

The clouds
overhead swirled in an ever-increasing rotation as what looked like a
finger-like appendage poked down toward the lake. There was a flash of light
and then a tremendous clap of thunder.

“You are doing
it.” The bald headed man shouted. “I can feel the power pouring out of the
gateway.”

Vivienne held
fast to her wand. She watched in terror as the water near the center of Cayuga
Lake began to swirl as the finger-like cloud lowered from the center of the
vortex swirling above. The pitch of the wind changed to that of an unearthly
howl, as what looked like a waterspout danced across the surface of the lake.

“Unlock the
gateway, my brethren.” The Elemental cried out from the center of the ritual
circle. He kept his hands up in the air. “You must use all your might to push
through into this world.”

There was
another flash of light, only this time it was right in front of Vivienne’s
face. She was blinded by the sudden increase in illumination and reached into
the surrounding snow to hopefully feel the scroll she had been waiting for.

“Hear my
voice.” The Elemental continued to cry out over the ever-increasing wind and
snow from the storm. “Let me guide you to our new home.”

Vivienne
blinked, her vision still clouded with spots from the bright illumination. She
frantically reached off to her side and her fingers brushed against what felt
like warm paper. “Finally.” She spoke to herself.

It was yanked
from her grip. “Not so fast.”

Vivienne felt
a pair of ice-cold hands latch onto her arms and pull her through the snow like
a toy doll. She kicked and squirmed to get away but it was no use.

“I knew one of
you witches would be foolish enough to try and stop me.”

Her vision
finally cleared enough to make out the visage of the bald headed man. He was
dragging her toward the ritual circle where the Elemental beckoned to his kind.
“Let me go.” She protested.

“You witches
all think you own magic. You think that no one else deserves to use it to
better themselves.” He glared angrily at her. “Well who put you all in charge?”

“You are going
to die along with the rest of us.” Vivienne tried to reason. “That thing is
just using you to get what it wants. It doesn’t care or have feelings because
it was never human to begin with.” Vivienne tried to reason. “You’re just a
pawn being moved around on his chessboard.”

“We have a deal.
Sacred and timeless. You don’t have to be human to make or keep one.” The bald
headed man replied as he hurled her forward just to the edge of the ritual
circle. “You are the last component needed to open the gateway. The sacrifice
of the fool.”

Vivienne
looked upwards at the Elemental inside Seamus Kilpatrick’s body. His eyes
seemed deep-set inside his skull, dark with no glimmer of light. “You can set
things right, Seamus Kilpatrick.” She spoke up unafraid. “I saw you fight it
off before.”

The Elemental
stood motionless, staring upwards at the swirling clouds where the gateway
between planes stood ready to open.

“You are still
in there, Seamus. Fight your way back toward the light.” Vivienne cried out.
“It is the right thing to do.”

The bald
headed sorcerer yanked the wand and scroll out of her grip. “I’ll be taking
these, thank you.” He inspected the items in his hand and sneered. “You really
haven’t been doing witchcraft for very long, have you?”

Vivienne
ignored his taunts and focused on getting through to the real Seamus
Kilpatrick. “This is the battle that you have been waiting for all your life to
take on. Your chance to drive the darkness away and save Cayuga Cove.”

The sorcerer
reached inside his hooded robe and pulled out a large pentacle suspended on a
chain. “This is power. This is what will spare me as the rest of you are taken
over when that gateway is opened.” He glared at her wand. “Not some backwoods
country folk magic.”

Vivienne shook
her head at him. “You can’t tame chaos.”

“I will succeed.”
He smiled and tucked the magic talisman back inside his hooded robe. “Only you
won’t be around to see it.”

The Elemental
in control of Seamus’ body remained a silent sentinel. It did not react or move
in the slightest.

The bald
headed man held her wand and the flash scroll out to the Elemental. “I give
these gifts to you, master. Use them as you please.”

The Elemental
at last broke from his trance and reached out. “Give them to me.”

The sorcerer
reached into one of the pockets of his robe and pulled out what looked like a
small dagger made of polished silver. Rows of sharp teeth-like fangs lined the
edges of the blade. He stabbed the dagger into the air just outside the circle
and made a circular cutting motion. “I have opened the circle so you may take
your gifts, wise one.” Using his other hand, he gently passed the wand and
scroll toward the Elemental.