Last Witch Standing

chapter 24



The Present Day

Earth



Candice ordered in when she and Rachel returned to their hotel room. “I cannot get enough of this Hawaiian food!” The scent of barbecue pineapple filled the air.

“Like it? I wish I could enjoy food. On the Mountain Witch world I did. In fact, I had a strong appetite. Here, food is nearly tasteless and I can only take it in small portions,” Rachel said.

“That is because the mountain witch world is your natural world. That and the Citadel planet are in the same universe. You no longer belong to this one.”

“I know. I heard you talking with Karen and Jakob. Also, Queen Annalisse has explained some of this. Still, I think they are not quite telling me everything,” Rachel said.

“You must trust them.”

“I do. With my life. And, they are my only route back to my Lower Mountain witch sisters.” “You will see them again. Soon.”

“I know, thanks. Do you mind if I go to bed early tonight?”

“Not at all. I have a stack of magazines to look at. Plus, I have this new tablet Jakob brought me.” Candice gestured to the ten-inch Acer Iconia computer tablet on the dresser.

Rachel examined the tablet. Katie would love one of those. She could load it with science programs and magazines. Eventually, she would want to make one of her own. Then she would lose herself in her cave for several weeks or more as she designed a low power, super-sized one of her own. Rachel would have to see if she could get her own tablet, maybe an iPad. Surely, she had money. A single one of the many moissanite pieces collected in her room in Eustice’s cottage would be more than enough to purchase one – or a dozen.

Sleep came quickly. Karen and Jakob, along with Queen Annalisse, had already departed to set up another stage in the trap. The light of early dawn broke through the draperies. She must have slept nine hours or more!

Rachel dressed and stood on the balcony, letting the morning breeze ruffle her sundress. Somewhere, she knew, perhaps on the balcony, perhaps in the yard below or on the roof, a lone Upper Mountain Witch kept watch over the hotel room. Upper Mountain Witches were so stealthy that Katie probably sensed them only on Pangea after Annalisse ordered them to break cover to herd Katie and Rachel back to Earth.

How did the queen know Katie would take Rachel back to Earth? Annalisse was always thinking several steps ahead. Rachel would hate to have to play chess with that one.

What would happen here? She could not bear to be allied against Katie. The sorceress had spent many painstaking hours instructing Rachel in math and science and the Power. True, as a sorceress, her explanations of the Power were not as helpful as they would be coming from another witch – but Katie had made the attempt. And if she were only a child when she died, how could she be expected to have a mature outlook and the wisdom of age?

Rachel heard a voice in the distance.

I have come to save the child’s life, not to harm her. It is for that reason I entered into this affair – to restore her humanity and bring her into my kingdom. She should have become an Upper Mountain Witch and not a sorceress. Something happened to push her off the correct path. Perhaps Katie’s great intelligence prevented her from moving by feel and accepting the natural course after her earthly death. My task is to restore her to the correct one and bring her into our world as an Upper Mountain Witch. That is where she belongs; what she truly is.

Rachel turned around, looking for Annalisse. How could she be on the balcony, the queen had left for the city early that morning, with Jakob and Karen? Rachel was alone. Into my mind. The witch queen spoke directly into my mind – and from such a distance!

The weekdays passed quietly. Rachel forced herself to go out sightseeing with Candice, who would not leave Rachel alone at the hotel. Saturday morning arrived and Candice drove them to the airport to pick up Dan Edwards and his son.

“The idea of a hiking trip was a good one. Their mother will come at the end of next week, when school lets out. That gives us one less civilian to worry about,” Candice said.

“How did you talk Mr. Edwards into bringing his son? After all, Katie is dangerous,” Rachel asked.

“I convinced him that the danger to his son was greater leaving him and that there ultimately was no possibility of the boy remaining on the sidelines.”

“Was it difficult?”

“To put it, mildly, yes. He came close to throwing me out of his office several times.”

Rachel laughed. “I am sure you were very persuasive.”

“When I need to be, I guess I can.”

Rachel watched the jet contrails as they stood by the airport window looking out.

“That is them.” Rachel pointed to a speck in the distance.

“That is uncanny. This Power thing is something I will never get used to.”

She will have to. Earth is lost to her. Unless Queen Annalisse has a special plan for restoring the detective to her identity.



****

“It is great to be back here!” Eric moved his gaze back and forth between the ocean and the mountains. Eric looked at Rachel. His mouth opened slightly and he did not blink. “I thought you were dead.”

“I was. I am. In the same way Katie is. After this affair is over I will need to return to my world – The Kingdom of the Mountain Witches.”

“I was worried about you…. when I saw your picture on the news.”

“Thank you. Our lives are entangled in some way.”

“I would like to visit your world.”

“That may not be possible. It takes a lot of power for one who is neither witch nor sorcerer to transit. Candice’s trip took the combined power of the Citadel and the Upper Mountain Witches to open the gate,” Rachel said.

“It is possible he could piggyback on you, Rachel. If things go badly here tomorrow, we may have to make the attempt. I don’t think Katie is vindictive, but the shock could render her irrational,” Karen said.

“I’d say she already is irrational,” Candice said.

“In her own way, she is rational. From her perspective, her actions make sense,” Jakob said.



***

“It certainly is beautiful here,” Candice said.

“Any idea when my sister will be here?” Dan Edwards asked.

“She’s here now.” Rachel stood up.

“Now?” Candice bolted upright and reached for her cellphone.

“No. On Earth, but not yet here. She is looking for me. If the queen wasn’t blocking her, Katie would find me.”

“Then we don’t have much time. Annalisse can’t hold her that long. Katie is too powerful. Why didn’t you tell us?”

“Just noticed it.” Rachel shuffled, avoiding looking directly at Candice. “Katie’s occupied with something. She’s discovered something that’s enchanted her. I feel the spike in her energy. It is similar to when she discovered a new element in the space around Pangea.”

“What could it be?” Candice asked.

“Anything. Literally anything. Another witch she could use, a book on physics that answers one of her questions – or provokes new, interesting, ones. It could even be something as simple as a new iPad.”

“If she has a new girl, we must move quickly. I will not allow another child to die by her hands.”

“She didn’t kill them,” Rachel said.

Candice didn’t answer this but dialed her cellphone. Rachel left to meet Eric at the hotel pool.



***

“Can you swim?” Eric asked, eyes wide.

“Of course. I could swim to the bottom of the ocean, if I had to.” Rachel stripped off her shorts and flipped her sandals by the lawn chair.

“Cool.”

Eric dived into the turquoise water and swam out about fifteen feet. He turned to Rachel. She jumped in. Unconsciously, she began drawing heat energy from it. The Power was a narcotic.

“It’s cold!” Eric shivered.

“Yes.” Rachel stopped drawing. What was she thinking? The cold could kill these people if she accidentally took too much.

“So, what did you do in the mountains, if you don’t mind my asking?” Eric looked at Rachel.

“I studied. Mathematics, physics, the Power, etc. Didn’t get very far on my own.”

“It’s crazy. We must have been less than a mile away from you the whole time.”

“I think I was already gone by then,” Rachel said.

Eric stopped his dogpaddling.

“Sorry. I do thank you and your father for finding me and trying to help me.”

“This is just too strange. I find out that a girl I met at Walmart is dead, but alive, and has been kidnapped by my four and a half-year old aunt who died forty years ago.”

“I know. Imagine how I felt when I first discovered I had The Gift? What it was like to have a two feet, seven inches tall woman show up at my window?”

“Crazy. Yet, I believe it. That’s the strangest thing of all. I believe it.”

Rachel dove under the water and grabbed his legs, toppling him.

“What did you do that for?” Eric sputtered, water drops falling from his face and hair, a grin on his face.

“I don’t know. I haven’t played in years. Katie is so intellectual and my adoptive parents in Melville weren’t much fun. She does like llamas, though.”

“Llamas?” Eric circled around her.

He’s distracting me for a toss himself. That was the thing about the Power. Humans could rarely take her by surprise. Well, she would pretend –

Eric dove and Rachel felt his hands on her legs in a tackle. Visions of him in junior high school wrestling class, years before, came unbidden into her mind. How can you have a relationship with somebody whose mind you can read? Relationship? She stopped herself. She was dead, he was alive.

The two continued their swim, ending up in the spa. Here, Rachel risked pulling a few more degrees of heat from the water. This was becoming an addiction. On the other hand, this wasn’t her world – or even her universe – any longer. Even keeping her body together probably took extra energy. Hadn’t Karen implied as much?

From their perspective on the spa benches, they could see a banner ad for the local symphony. A visiting virtuoso would perform Bach that evening.

“I wonder if we could get tickets,” Eric said. I played the viola in junior high school. Never got anywhere with it, but I do like classical music.”

“Me too. So does Katie. In fact, she loves Bach.” Rachel wondered what Power enhanced playing would be like. When this was over, there would be plenty of time for her to learn – and master – the violin.



***

“You have some great connections, Rachel. They were sold out weeks ago.” Eric walked her towards their seat in the concert hall. He was dressed in a rented suit.

“It comes with being a witch.” She elbowed him. In a black tie outfit, neatly combed dirty blond hair, he looked beautiful.

“Don’t clap between movements,” Eric reminded her.

Rachel elbowed him again.

Several rows behind them, Karen and Jakob sat together. Annalisse was elsewhere, with Candice, preparing the ground for Katie’s arrival. Rachel felt for the thread, the strands of power, emotion and feeling that her witch nature enabled her to grasp. Katie’s thread was stronger now. Closer than even an hour ago.

This may be our last night of peace.

Rachel ceased channeling and looked at Eric who was examining the program.

The curtain opened and the crowd grew silent.

The violinist, a young woman, Helen Kahn, walked to the center of the stage wearing a blue velour dress, hair tied into a ponytail to prevent its obstructing her playing. She bowed to the audience, said a few words about the piece, then raised her violin, adjusted its position on her shoulder and began. The first movement started dramatically, and Rachel was reminded of those sports cars that can go from zero to sixty in seconds. The violinist attacked the strings, like a baker cutting bread.

The sound of her music filled the auditorium. Helen Kahn bobbed back and forth like a bumblebee, bow moving so rapidly that Rachel half expected to see sparks fly from the strings.

When this is over, I definitely will take up the violin. Perhaps Jakob will teach me.

Rachel relaxed further back in her seat as she let the music pass over her, calming her, inspiring her.

Tonight is mine. Tomorrow is Katie’s.