Purr-suasive Witches (A Wonder Cats Mystery Book 11) Page 13

  I couldn’t wait. I tapped Blake on the shoulder and jerked my head to the left. Quietly and carefully, I led him to the back of the fence, where I had climbed over just a short while ago. I made a couple of hand gestures to explain to him that we needed to go up and over. He shook his head. I nodded mine. When I turned to pull myself up, he grabbed me around the waist.

  “I won’t let you do it. It’s suicide.”

  “No. There’s a shed here. No one will see me,” I whispered as quietly as I could.

  “Then I’ll go over,” he said.

  “We both go, or I go around and stomp through the front gate and attract all their attention all at once,” I hissed.

  This was no time for chivalry. It was war, and we were both fighting on the same team. I could tell it made Blake mad, but he knew I wasn’t going to do it any other way. Within seconds, we were both over the top of the fence, completely unnoticed by the coven as they stood in their cheap black robes around the fire.

  “They look ridiculous,” I muttered, more to myself than for Blake to hear.

  The fire in the pit was growing larger and larger without the help of any firewood. I could hear them chanting in low voices like they had been in the shed. Before I could focus on the meaning of the words, Treacle hopped over the fence.

  “What are you doing? It’s too dangerous for you to be in the yard!” I scolded.

  “There is something going on at the other houses,” he said, his green eyes wide.

  “What do you mean there is something going on at the other houses?”

  “There are black candles lit over the chalk drawings of the Masonic symbol you said the pattern of the houses made. Each house has the same design and black candles burning,” Treacle said nervously.

  I took a deep breath. This was all part of their screwy ritual. What I wouldn’t have given for just a couple extra hours to look in my aunt’s library to find out what the heck this new twist to the evening meant. Whatever it was, if they were using black candles, it couldn’t be good.

  I had been taught from a young age to avoid black candles for anything other than decorative purposes for Halloween. And even then, I can remember Aunt Astrid saying to stick with orange and white because they were prettier and more festive, aside from being safer.

  “Aunt Astrid,” I muttered. I’d almost forgotten she was the whole reason we were here.

  “I’m not helping you! Do whatever you want to me! You’ll never get me to go along with this half-baked wedding,” I heard my aunt say.

  She was back! It was her. And she was mad!

  “You have no choice,” Cedar hissed. “Now recite the words!”

  “I’ll do no such thing. If you were real witches, you’d never continue on this path. You have no idea what you are doing or even how to do it. Bringing forth the Kly is the reason your whole sect of witches died out decades ago. And it will die out again even if I have to go with it.” Aunt Astrid knew how to talk to these young whippersnappers.

  “It doesn’t matter,” Cedar said.

  I peeked around the edge of the shack and saw my poor aunt tied to a stake stuck in the ground. She wasn’t going anywhere unless I could get to her. And I couldn’t get to her without a distraction.

  “Wait here,” Blake said and inched around the other side of the shack. Before I could figure out what he was doing, I saw Cedar take a long, hot poker from the fire. The tip was glowing white with heat.

  “Recite the words!” Cedar yelled.

  “Never!” Aunt Astrid replied.

  I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I looked around for a weapon, but there was nothing on the ground. The shed was unlocked. I quickly slipped in and grabbed the first heavy thing I could get my hands on. When I stepped outside, I chucked it with all my strength at Cedar. It hit her in the middle of her back and landed with a thud.

  She dropped the poker and yelped in pain. I stood there like a cowboy in the middle of town at high noon, ready to draw my pistol.

  “You!” Cedar hissed.

  The other witches drew closer to Cedar and glared at me. It was at this moment that I thought my plan was a pretty bad one that I hadn’t thought through.

  “Cath! Get out of here!” Aunt Astrid yelled. “They don’t know what they are doing! The whole place is going to—”

  “Shut up!” Cedar shouted. Luann put her hand over Aunt Astrid’s mouth.

  “Let her go,” I said. “This is over. You can’t summon this creature you’re worshipping. You’re nothing more than a common criminal.”

  Just then, Sheila appeared. Her shriveled face seemed to writhe and contort as she spoke words only Cedar seemed capable of hearing. She pointed at me and peeled her lips back from those big, square horse teeth. I shuddered as Cedar turned and fixed me with the grin of an insane person.

  “Very good, Sheila. We’ll sacrifice her. If our sister Astrid won’t utter the words, we’ll offer this one to the Kly.”

  “What?” I gasped.

  “Cath, run!” My aunt shouted.

  Just as I turned to attempt to vault over the fence, I felt a strong pair of hands grab me roughly by the shoulder and yank me to the ground. All the breath left my body, and one long gasp escaped as I tried to retrieve it. I was sure I was going to pass out. But Ethel, who had thrown me down from the fence, grabbed me by my arms and dragged me to the green fire, which was still glowing brilliantly.

  I couldn’t speak. I was busy trying to catch my breath. My head was swimming, and I couldn’t focus on what was happening. All I could see was Aunt Astrid crying and shaking her head.

  Cedar was talking to her and pointing at me. After a few seconds, my aunt nodded, and her head fell forward. I tried to call her name but still couldn’t talk. My words came out in a raspy whisper that no one heard.

  Before I could do or say anything, my aunt started to speak words that didn’t sound like English. She cried as she said them, and I stared at her. Where the breath came from I wasn’t sure, but I started to yell, trying to get her to stop. I cried and shook my head furiously. Ethel stood in front of me so I couldn’t see my aunt’s face, but I continued to call her name. I didn’t know how much time passed, but it felt like a matter of seconds.

  And then things really got interesting.

  23

  Here Comes the Bride

  For some reason, I had just assumed that a multidimensional demon would come from a big pillar of light in the sky. Never in a million years would I have guessed the thing would crawl out of a green campfire. I just didn’t see that coming.

  So when suddenly I saw movement in the flames, I was sure it was from the knot that was developing on the back of my head from my fall from the fence. But after blinking a couple of times and taking a few deep breaths, I focused hard. And yup, there was something in the fire that shouldn’t have been there.

  While everyone was staring, I started to push myself backward. I thought that if I could just slip into a shadow, I might be able to figure out some way to get to Aunt Astrid. If I was going to do anything, it would have to be now, while everyone was transfixed by the creature coming from the fire. It also wasn’t as big as I’d thought it would be; it was no taller than an average man. This was the doomsday machine they were all going on about? I still didn’t see it. But what did I know?

  I tried to ignore what was happening with the witches and focus instead on my aunt. Ethel, staring at the thing coming out of the fire with her mouth hanging open in a silent scream, had all but forgotten about me. Now was the time to move, or I might never get another chance.

  I scrambled across the grass like a crab to my aunt and began fumbling with the twine they’d tied her hands with. Thankfully, they were no better at tying knots than they were at summoning the end of the world.

  “Come on, Aunt Astrid. Let’s get out of here,” I whispered in her ear.

  “I can’t. I have to finish this,” she said as she rubbed her wrists. “You go. And give Bea my love. And kiss that bea
utiful baby when he gets here.”

  “What? No. You’re going to tell her all those things. Come on!” I hissed and tried yanking her by the hand. Of course, she wouldn’t budge and didn’t even look at me when she started muttering some crazy words I still didn’t understand.

  “Behold your bride!” Cedar cried out with tears streaming down her cheeks as she presented Sheila, who sank to one knee in front of the flaming creature. It was not hard to see Sheila’s body trembling. For as homely as this bride was, I couldn’t imagine the groom being all that picky himself.

  But just when I thought things couldn’t get stranger or scarier, I was proven wrong.

  “Come on!” I begged my aunt. “Before they throw the bouquet.”

  “Your bride!” Aunt Astrid yelled.

  I gawked at my aunt. Oh no. They got her. The coven brainwashed her, and she fell for all this at the last minute, I thought.

  Cedar, whose icy blue eyes glowed with the green of the fire, grinned maniacally. She whipped her head in my direction, but I couldn’t be sure she saw me as I hid behind my aunt.

  All the other witches were staring at the spectacle—all except one. Ethel caught me standing behind my aunt and, like a rhino charging to put out a brush fire, came stomping in my direction.

  The sudden movement must not have been part of the program. The fire beast arched its back, let out a high-pitched scream that was more like a girly whine than anything else, and, with three big chomps, ate Sheila.

  Cedar began screaming and whirled around to square off with my aunt. Aunt Astrid, whose hands were free now, pushed me back and stood tall and unafraid. I’d never seen her look like this before. The green flames in the firepit whipped around like a cat’s tail when it was just about to pounce. As soon as I thought of a cat, I had a brilliant idea.

  “Treacle!” I called to him. Within seconds, he was in view on the top of the fence, his green eyes flashing. “Go to the other houses where you saw the candles! Knock them all down! Get them close to anything that might burn! Get your friends to help! Come back to me as soon as you are done! And BE CAREFUL!”

  Before I could take a breath, he was gone. I turned back around to see Ethel in my face—literally. She gave me a headbutt that knocked me to the ground.

  I was getting really tired of this, and although I was not athletically inclined and couldn’t do any kind of female superhero moves or run up the side of a wall, I could kick. And that was what I did. I kicked at Ethel like I was a Rockette, and I didn’t stop. No matter how much my thighs and calves started to burn, no matter how painful it felt in my abdomen to keep my legs moving, I didn’t stop. If she got hold of one ankle, I kicked at her fingers. When she let go, I went for her knees. I didn’t stop until she begged me to take her hands.

  The thing that had just stretched its mouth open and swallowed up Sheila had now focused its attention on Ethel. It had her by the leg and was slowly pulling her toward its open maw. I grabbed her hands and pulled her toward me while I was still on the ground. Ethel was crying, but no words came out of her mouth.

  “Don’t let go!” I shouted.

  “I’m sorry,” she blubbered. “I’m sorry.”

  I pulled as hard as I could, but I was no match for the green flame demon that was pulling her by the leg. With one last tug, Ethel disappeared into the creature’s yawning, fiery mouth.

  When I got to my feet, I turned toward my aunt, who was muttering something with her eyes closed. I didn’t know if this whole ordeal had brought her vision back or if Cedar had removed the veil that was preventing her from seeing the other dimensions around her. All I knew was that in the midst of all this chaos, Aunt Astrid stood tall, proud, and fierce.

  The smell of smoke was growing more and more noticeable. It wasn’t from the bonfire. I looked toward the street and saw the glow of fire from the nearby houses. Treacle had done it. Now I just wanted to make sure he’d made it out okay.

  “You don’t know what you’ve done!” Aunt Astrid yelled at Cedar. “You thought you were being slick by sneaking into my life the way you did. Did you really believe I’d sacrifice my family for you? For this?”

  “You don’t have any choice,” Cedar spat.

  “That’s the thing stupid people like you always think—that people don’t have a choice. Well, we do. And I’ve made my choice.”

  With that, my Aunt Astrid screamed at the top of her voice words I’d never heard before. And with a clap of her hands, she was gone.

  “No!” I screamed. My eyes instantly filled with tears, and I was ready to take a bite out of Cedar myself. What had Astrid done? Why would she go and leave us like this?

  The Kly, which was supposed to bring about the end of the world, began to shrivel up like a piece of burnt bacon. Cedar became a stuttering mess as she watched her insane plan go literally up in smoke.

  “Get the statue of the Sect of Symmetry! Get it from the shed!” she screamed at Hannah, who had been standing off to the side through the whole ordeal. “You heard me! Go get it!”

  Hannah shook her head and pointed to the statue, which was lying on the ground. It was what I’d awkwardly tossed at Cedar, hitting her in the back. She gasped and picked it up, holding it to her while she looked around nervously.

  “Cedar? The Kly ate Sheila,” Hannah said.

  “And Ethel,” Luann added through a cascade of tears.

  “And your collection of houses is on fire,” I added, pointing toward the street.

  I probably shouldn’t have said anything to her. She whirled around and hissed at me before taking off toward the front gate. But before she could get to it, Blake stepped out of the shadows and blocked her way. She ran right into him and bounced backward, tripping over her own feet and falling hard on her back end. The statue of the Sect of Symmetry broke into a couple pieces when it hit the ground. I was glad. It was a horrible figure.

  Just then, as I heard Cedar start to cry, I saw my favorite black cat hop up onto the fence. He looked a little dusty but otherwise unharmed.

  “Aunt Astrid is gone,” I said telepathically.

  “No,” Treacle replied.

  “What am I going to do?” I stared at my feline as the reality of what had just happened sank in. The fire that had been green was now nothing but a few pitiful embers being licked by small, unimpressive tongues of flame. “How am I going to tell Bea her mom won’t see the baby? How am I going to tell her that?”

  As I turned to Blake, I heard the impressive honking horns of the fire trucks, which were so loud they shook the ground as the trucks pulled up all along Peabody Street. Blake reached down, yanked Cedar up by the wrist, and began to read her her rights as he led her out the gate and toward the front yard.

  “What am I going to do?” I looked back at my cat and shook my head.

  The real terror of what had just happened hadn’t settled into my bones yet. And I didn’t mean the Kly. That had been bad. It had indeed eaten Sheila. Three bites, and she was gone. But the terror I was feeling was because my aunt was gone, and once again, it was because I had been in trouble. Just like with my mother.

  Treacle was looking at me, but then something else behind me caught his eye. His tail whipped, but he said nothing. I turned around.

  “Aunt Astrid!” I shouted and threw my arms around her. She was smiling through the black smudges of dirt on her cheeks. When I felt her arms around me, I started to cry.

  “It’s all right, honey. I’m right here.” She smoothed my hair.

  “What happened? I thought you sacrificed yourself to save us,” I blubbered as I kissed her on the cheek.

  “Well, you know I would have,” she said. “The problem with girls like Cedar is they make big, grandiose plans and forget that a simple sleight of hand might be all that’s necessary.”

  Aunt Astrid cleared her throat as she slipped her arm through mine. We walked out of the yard just as half a dozen uniformed cops swarmed in to round up the rest of the Sect of Symmetry.

  “I
don’t follow.”

  “I didn’t have my vision, but I still knew a couple of tricks like relocation.” Aunt Astrid smiled. “I just teleported myself to the corner of the yard. Cedar was too swept up in all of it. She didn’t see me.”

  “Do you have your vision now?” I asked.

  “It’s coming back, thank goodness.” She sighed.

  I told her Bea was at the police station with Jake and that Blake had Cedar under arrest.

  We quickly got out of the way to let the firemen and police do their jobs. The entire area was cordoned off. Down the street, the last living people that weren’t witches, Ken and Liane Stortz, were standing on the sidewalk and staring at their home, which was flanked by two burning buildings.

  “We should help them,” Aunt Astrid said, and I couldn’t have agreed more.

  We held hands as we discreetly chanted to the wind to keep the flames from touching their house. It was kind of funny to watch how the wind worked hard to wave the flames this way and that, making the Stortzes sway in time with the gusts. But the scene was still desolate. They were the only people on the block who hadn’t been touched by the Sect of Symmetry, and they had narrowly escaped with their lives. They deserved to have their house spared.

  I saw Blake’s car and assumed he was still dealing with Cedar, perhaps questioning her, or maybe he’d gone to collect the rest of the coven and make sure the police kept them separated. Not that I thought any of them could do any more harm.

  “We better get to the police station and collect Bea,” I said. “She’s probably worried sick. And in her condition, it doesn’t take much for her to be upset.”

  “You’re right,” Aunt Astrid said. “Do you think we can get one of these officers to give us a lift back to the station?”

  “I don’t know why not.”

  I happened to glance between a fire truck and the fire chief’s car and saw Blake’s car still parked between them. The driver’s-side door was open, and as I looked more closely, I saw that the passenger-side door was open too.