Last Witch Standing

chapter 17





Katie led Rachel through the brush behind their cave. The sorceress held her hand tightly, the bond as strong as ever. But it didn’t matter to Rachel – she wasn’t risking a battle by dashing for freedom now.

Brambles tore at their clothing as they ran down the path. At a turn, when the valley came into view, Katie halted. The cave wall was between them and Annalisse’s witches; below them Citadel Witches. Rachel did not see them, but she felt their presence. If they went forward they would encounter them; if they went back, they would encounter Queen Annalisse and her forces.

Katie grasped Rachel’s hand tighter and the pair rose in the air. Here we go again.

They went quickly, without interference from Queen Annalisse, who now had a mountain barrier between her and them. Katie exited and entered multiple universes, leapfrogging past empty space. Bonded to Rachel, taking energy from her store, Katie didn’t need to stay near star clusters and could move with great speed.

When they reached a nebula with its jellyfish mosaic of gold, greens, blues, earth colors and luminescent center, Rachel recognized it as the the one Katie had taken her through the year before. This nebula marked a gateway between Earth’s universe and the universe of the Kingdom of the Mountain Witches and the Citadel.

She wondered where on the planet Earth Katie would set them down. There wasn’t much time to ponder as a forest valley appeared below them. It was the forest where Rachel had set her tent in the months before her earthly death.

Katie slowed when they reached the boulder that Rachel had backed her tent up to the year before. The two were suspended over it, like a hovercraft as Katie gently brought them into port.

The instant Katie released the bond, Rachel hopped onto the forest floor. She was no longer alive in this world and could not be easily hurt.

The ground where her tent had stood was cleared, as well as a path in front of it. Much of the foliage was gone and the sticks she had set outside her tent to provide alarm of intruders were gone. The area looked bare and sterile without Rachel’s camp.

The sorceress had made her way down silently. I wonder how many times this creature watched me when I was unaware. How long did she stalk me prior to taking me away?

“Okay, we’re home, Katie. What’s next?”

“We hit up university libraries.” Katie smiled so broadly, Rachel expected a frog’s tongue to shoot out and capture a fly.

“Where do we stay?” Rachel asked.

“Why here, of course.”

“Here? This is the first place anyone will look for us.”

“Perhaps it is.” Katie grinned again.

“We’ll need a tent.”

“No, we won’t. I hollowed out this boulder.” Katie tapped the rock near where Rachel’s tent had been.

“When did you do that?”

“While you were out getting water from the stream for your camp.”

Rachel didn’t answer. So, the sorceress was right next to me as I slept. As I slept and worried about her.

“First, let’s go to the bookstore. I want to get the newest issue of Scientific American.” Katie started walking up the path that led out of Rachel’s valley. The year before, there had been no trail at the spot they took. Police and rescue personnel must have carved one out. Rachel’s much more narrow path was overgrown and barely visible.

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.”