Mortal (11 page)

T
he Siamese twins looked like a four-legged human spider. They
shuffled forward, and Kara took an unconscious step back and hit
her head on the glass wall. They were dressed exactly the same, in
a black suit and tie. They looked like dreary funeral parlor
directors with haunted expressions. Their heads were large and
oblong, and their haggard faces drooped with wrinkles that made
their wet eyes look unnaturally large. Both had raven colored hair
that hung in greasy clumps and was cut straight across their jaws.
Their eyes and eyebrows were unevenly lined in black kohl, as if
they had put on their makeup in the dark.

One of the twins was slightly shorter,
and her head hung unnaturally sideways, as though her neck had been
broken. She sucked desperately on a cigarette, like it was oxygen,
and then her sister opened her mouth and exhaled puffs of white
smoke.

Their yellow eyes brightened at the
sight of Kara and her friends, just like the cats.

"Look here, sister," said the taller
woman. Remnants of the cigarette smoke escaped her lips and her
voice was rough as though she was suffering from a severe case of
strep throat.

"We have ourselves some visitors.
Young, by the looks of them."

Her sister smiled and revealed a mouth
full of rotten yellow teeth. She looked as if she had smoked over a
million cigarettes, and toothpaste hadn’t been invented yet. She
took another long haul of her cigarette.

"Yes, sister, four of
them...but these are not
ordinary
visitors," she answered in an identical raspy
voice. "No, these visitors are
altered
—disguised as the
living
—
very
unnatural."

"Yes, sister, very
unnatural. Why would the walking dead, s
pirit walkers
, dare to enter our
establishment? Not the cleverest of abominations to come here,
where the dead are not welcome."

"Indeed, you are right to ask, sister.
Except for one."

"Yes, sister, except for
one."

The shorter woman lifted her head,
closed her eyes for a moment and sniffed the air.

"I can smell it on her, sweet like
candy and dandelion syrup. Hmm—very strange for one so young, but
it’s there all right, and no mistake."

Her eyes popped open suddenly, and she
shook her head looking disappointed.

"You keep very strange
company little girl," she said, her eerie yellow eyes focused on
Kara. "It is very odd that someone like
you
, should be with the likes
of
them
. Are you
aware of what company you keep? Do you know what these creatures
are? They are abominations walking the Earth. Very unnatural—and a
threat to the world of the living."

Kara shifted uneasily on the spot, but
she stood her ground, determined not to let those eyes creep her
out. There was something very odd about those yellow eyes. It was
almost as though they could see things that other mortals could
not. Could they see through the M-suits?

"I feel like I’m in the twilight
zone," whispered David in Kara’s ear. "Look at them. I’m going to
have nightmares for years—mark my words."

The twins’ eyes widened, and they
shuffled with surprising speed towards David. They glared at him
with their hands on their hips and measured him like he was a
curious object. Their yellow eyes glistened.

The shorter twin pointed a
bone-thin finger with a long dirty nail at David. "You must knock
on wood three times after mentioning cruel words, or the evil
spirits will ruin things for you,
spirit
walker
," she said and then sucked on her
cigarette.

David lifted his hands in surrender.
"Uh...sure...right, whatever you say."

The other twin blew what looked like a
broomstick made of smoke in David’s face.

"You spirits who walk the
Earth would be wise to hold your tongues in the presence of the Fay
sisters. We have lived with your spiteful remarks all our lives.
But despite how you perceive us,
we
are not unnatural.
You
are."

David shared a look with
Kara that said,
what
the—
and she could tell he was straining to
keep from laughing out loud. She knew he couldn’t keep his mouth
shut for long. This was going to end badly if she didn’t intervene.
Jenny and Peter both looked at Kara and shrugged, they seemed to be
waiting for her to do something.

"I beg your pardon, Miss Fay," said
Kara to the shorter twin, "and to you Miss Fay," she said to the
other, "my friend didn’t mean what he said, and he is very sorry.
Aren’t you David?"

When he didn’t answer, she kicked
him.

"Uh...yes, yes, of course,"
David tried to compose himself. He pressed his hand to his chest
and said with fake humility. "I apologize. I am deeply ashamed and
grief-stricken for the pain I have caused to such
admirable
women."

The Fay sisters scowled at David.
Their ugly faces twisted even more. They stared at the group
intensely, their wet yellow eyes never blinking.

"Why are you here, spirit walkers?"
asked the shorter sister. "Why have you spoiled our shop with your
corrupted presence? It’ll take all day to wash your scum from our
floors. You shouldn’t be here."

Her warm putrid breath reached Kara’s
nose, and she took another haul of her cigarette.

David smiled innocently. "I thought we
could borrow those handcuffs over there for a game of—ouch!" He
cried out and rubbed his shoulder.

Kara shook her fist at him. "Stop
being an idiot! We don’t have time."

She looked over to Peter and Jenny who
looked as annoyed by David’s reaction as Kara had been. Jenny
rolled her eyes and Peter avoided David’s triumphant
expression.

The taller Miss Fay blew an impressive
cat-shape smoke silhouette in the air.

"Why have you come to seek the wisdom
of the Fay sisters, spirit walkers? I doubt you’re seriously
interested in our merchandise. Spirit walkers don’t mingle with
witchcraft—unless we are mistaken. Are you here to purchase a
cauldron, perhaps?"

The old woman wheezed as she tried to
laugh. She started to cough, and her sister smacked her on the back
until the woman coughed up some phlegm and spat it out on the
ground near David’s feet. He jumped back just in time as the green
gunk hit the floor.

"Why are you calling us spirit
walkers?" asked Kara, as she pulled her eyes away from the greenish
slime on the ground. "What does that mean exactly?"

The taller sister scratched the top of
her greasy head and flicked off what Kara hoped was just
dandruff.

"
They
..." she pointed slowly to David,
Jenny and Peter, "are spirit walkers, spirits of the dead in mortal
bodies. They are as unnatural as they come, a
disgusting
corruption of nature. Our
mother earth is a world for the living—not the dead. They are
nature’s enemy—therefore they are
our
enemy. They should not
be."

"Look who’s talking," mumbled Jenny.
She lowered her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. She
looked prepared for a fight. Kara had never seen her look so
angry.

"But you, little one, you
are not one of them," continued the old woman. Her yellow eyes
fixed on Kara once more. "And yet, there is something different in
you—something
special
."

Kara frowned, feeling uncomfortable.
"So, obviously you know they’re supernatural beings. You can see
through their M-suits."

"Of course we can, we are the Fay
sisters," chorused the twins looking very pleased with
themselves.

Kara wasn’t sure what they meant by
that. But something nagged her. Those unsettling yellow
eyes...

"So then—I’m guessing you’re witches,
aren’t you?" she asked. "You have to be. Regular mortals couldn’t
see past the M-suits."

The Fay sisters both smiled, showing
rows of rotten teeth. They tried to turn their heads to look at
each other, but only got halfway.

"Clever, that one," said the shorter
sister. "Of course we are witches."

She pulled another cigarette from her
jacket pocket. With a flick of her hand, a flame sprouted from her
fingertips, and the witch sucked on her cigarette happily as though
it were a lollypop.

Kara felt relieved—two witches were
better than one. The Fay sisters would help them destroy the dark
warlock. She was certain they were the ones Ariel called dark
witches. What better to fight off a dark warlock than a couple of
dark witches who just happened to be stuck together by the hip?
Perhaps they were stronger that way, witch magic to the power of
two.

A smile materialized on Peter’s pale
face, and Jenny almost seemed pleased, although she kept glaring at
the witches. David raised his brows as he met Kara’s eyes, a smile
twitched on his lips.

Kara bounced on the spot. "Thank God.
Listen, you have to help us. We need your help to vanquish a dark
warlock. I’m sure you know all about warlocks—see, he’s stealing
souls from mortals, and he’s going to perform a ritual on the
winter solstice that will kill thousands of innocent
mortals—"

"We cannot help you," chorused the
witches.

"But..." Kara watched the witches in
disbelief. "Please—you don’t understand. My...my mother’s been
infected by his dark magic. She’s dying. We need your magic to
destroy him. Our weapons are useless against him. Your magic is our
only chance. Please." Kara started to sweat. A cat jumped from a
top shelf onto the tallest sister’s right shoulder. Intelligence
flashed in its yellow eyes. The old witch stroked the cat as she
spoke. "I’m sorry, but we cannot help you, child."

"Why?" said Kara, her voice rising
with her temper. "You would be helping thousands of innocent
people. I’m sure you want to do the right thing, don’t you? You
wouldn’t want innocent people killed, right?"

"You don’t understand," said the
witch. "It’s not that we don’t want to help you..."

"...we
can’t
help you," finished her twin
sister as she took a drag from her cigarette.

Kara felt the blood drain from her
face. The words wouldn’t come.

"Why not?" said Jenny, in a
voice that matched her scowl. "You’re obviously witches—you have
magic fingers. We just saw you do magic. I know you hate us
spirit walkers
, you made
that obvious, but you’d be helping the mortals. Don’t you want help
them?"

The short witch flicked the ashes from
her cigarette on Jenny’s boots, sneering at her like Jenny was some
sort of ugly insect.

"Our magic is limited, spirit walker.
We can make fire...cast a few spells. We can even make love potions
for the desperate lover, but that is all."

She raised her arms in the air. "This
is why we have this establishment. We are more businesswomen than
actual witches. We do not possess the necessary skills that you are
looking for."

"It takes a very powerful witch to
bring down a warlock," said the taller sister. "One with old
magic—dark magic—a sorceress skilled in the dark arts. There is
only one witch who possesses the knowledge and ancient wisdom of
the dark arts. All the creatures of the earth and of the spirit
world fear her. She is the only one who holds the power to destroy
your warlock."

Both women stared intensely at Kara.
It was almost as if they wanted her to guess the answer. And Kara
had already guessed.

"Olga," she said, and the witches
seemed pleased. "You know where she is, don’t you? If she’s the
only one who can help us, then I need to know where she is," she
demanded.

The sisters smiled, as if this was a
game to them. "She lives in the deep, darkest part of Shadow Cave,"
chorused the twins.

"Sounds spooky," whispered David. "I’m
tingling all over."

"You must leave the village and go
south," said the shorter twin. "Follow the red path down past the
harbor and continue down the cliff. And at the edge of the cliff
where the ocean meets rock, is where you will find Shadow Cave. You
will see a break in the cliff, and that is where you can
enter."

The witch raised her skeletal finger
in Kara’s face. "You must keep to the path once you’re in the cave.
Do not stray from the path."

Kara gagged as the woman’s rancid
breath shot up her nose.

"Why not?" asked David. "I was a boy
scout once—I’m pretty sure I can find our way back."

"Dark things live in Shadow Cave,"
said the witch.

She kept her focus on Kara as though
the others weren’t important. "Creatures from the depths of
darkness will drink your blood and eat your soul if you stray from
the path. You must never leave the path! The path will lead you to
the witch—amongst other things..."