Last Witch Standing

chapter 25



The Present

Earth



Many in the audience lingered after the performance. There was a reception in the lobby with pitchers of punch arrayed on tables spread with white tablecloths. In the corner, a bar served champagne and wine to those over 21.

Rachel froze. She is here. In Hawaii. Somehow, Katie had penetrated Annalisse’s shield.

She grabbed Eric’s arm. “We have to go.”

“Something wrong?” He turned to her but did not move.

“Yes. Katie is here. I sense her.”

“Where?”

“I don’t know. Somewhere near.” On a hunch, Rachel felt for the emerald Annalisse had used to track her to Pangea. It was warm.

“Let’s go. Now.” Rachel tossed the gem into the bushes and pulled Eric along.

Karen came beside her. “Jakob is getting the van.”

“You felt her too?”

“No. I felt you. Your anxiety.”

“Katie has turned Annalisse’s magic against us and tracked me here with Annalisse’s emerald. That must have been why Katie let me keep it – she knew she could reverse it and use it for her own means.”

“Where is it, the emerald?” Karen asked as the trio moved towards the street.

“I tossed it into the bushes.”

Karen looked back. “Okay, we can come back for it later. We may be able to use it.”

“No. Katie will know I discovered it. I don’t know how, maybe because it left my presence, but I am certain. She will know.”

Jakob cut in front of a BMW sports model and pulled into the small open place by the curb. The three ran to him. The BMW driver honked and cursed Jakob as it passed.

“Katie is here,” Karen said without preamble. Queen Annalisse was in the corner seat; next to her sat an Upper Mountain Witch scout.

“We can’t go to the hotel,” Candice said.

“No.” Jakob followed the traffic closely with his eyes.

“We’ll have to push this up. To tomorrow morning,” Karen said.

All turned to Rachel. Even Jakob took his eyes off the road to look at her.

“I am ready. Is Mr. Edwards?”

“Yes. We’ll have to move you all. You can return for your luggage after this is over.”

Candice called Dan on his cell and apprised him of their change in plans. He met them at the curb of the hotel and they sped off. Jakob didn’t even wait for the stop sign, but looked and, seeing it was clear, ran it.

They followed Kuhio Highway towards Kilauea.

“I don’t understand. If she’s here, why not just do it now?” Eric asked.

“Because Queen Annalisse has set up the site. Her witches are in place. We could not guarantee your father’s safety otherwise,” Candice said.



***

“We have to lose her!” Karen yelled from the back of the van.

Overhead, in the distance, Rachel watched a speck hover in the air. It had been following their van for the past fifteen minutes as they sped down Kuhio Highway. Katie is toying with them. With us. To her, this is just a game of cat-and-mouse.

“Pull over, Jakob,” Karen said.

The vehicle fish-tailed at the abrupt application of the brakes.

Trudy climbed in through an open side window. Rachel had not seen her on the roof. Queen Annalisse joined hands with her sisters and a mist enveloped the van. Outside turned dark. “This will only hold her for a few moments,” the queen said.

“Everybody out. Quickly,” Jakob said.

Rachel jumped through the van door the instant Karen opened it. Dan pushed his son through, then followed.

“What about the queen?” Rachel yelled to Karen as they ran.

“She will catch up with us,” Jakob answered for her. He was taking up the rear.

Rachel slowed to let him overtake her. If Katie caught up to them, Rachel wanted to be the first one the sorceress saw. Perhaps if she went with the sorceress, this would end. Somehow, she didn’t think so, though. Not this time. Queen Annalisse had thrown up a challenge and Katie, like a bulldog, would rise to it.

A golf ball sized, gemlike object in Karen’s hands glowed blue-green in the mist. A magical device of some sort – from the Citadel. The Citadel witch slowed until all caught up to her. “Join hands.”

Dan seized his son with one hand, Rachel’s arm with the other. Though accustomed to magical power, Rachel still found his grip strong, viselike. He is frightened for his son.

When all hands were joined, Karen channeled into the gem, now hanging from a necklace around her neck, jostling her blouse as it vibrated with the Power.

The Power was like a knife cutting through Rachel. The mist disappeared to be replaced by absolute blackness. Were they not bound together, they would surely lose their way. After agonizing seconds, the darkness broke and they arrived at the base of Mount Kilauea. Deep orange fire-light peeked out from skylights, openings in the rock where the glow of molten lava from beneath the ground was visible.

Pieces of terrain rose around them, revealing themselves to be a score of camouflaged Upper Mountain Witches. Several Citadel Witches ran towards the party. One, in a black robe, red hair, peppered with grey streaks, carried a staff.

“Eudora,” Karen addressed the witch.

“The plan is still in place. Only the schedule has been turned up. Right now, our sister, Annalisse, and her forces, are fighting a running battle with the sorceress. The child-witch’s channeling must lead the creature here. Quickly.” Eudora gestured to Rachel with her staff.

“I am ready,” Rachel said.

“Now. You must get to Iki and we must return to our places; hidden in the terrain. It will not be long. Annalisse’s fight with the creature is not going well. Two of her sisters have already been injured,” Eudora said.

Rachel, Eric, Dan, and Candice raced towards Iki. Jakob ran ahead of the party, and Karen behind. Karen held the gem in her palm, but Rachel did not sense channeling from it.

Two Upper Mountain Witches wounded by Katie! A disaster. There could be no bloodshed on either side. Which of Annalisse’s sisters were hurt? Was gentle Trudy one of them?

Karen’s words brought Rachel back. “You need to take your position, Rachel. Annalisse is in a desperate fight in the hillside, and she cannot hold out for much longer.”

“We need you to channel, now,” Jakob panted between words. “Eric, you need to come with me. We have prepared a safe hideout for you.”

“I’m not leaving my dad,” Eric said.

“Go!” Dan Edwards barked. “It is safer there.” He added, softly, “Safer for both of us. Katie is going to be disoriented by seeing me. She may lash out and if there is a fight, these people,” he gestured to where the Upper Mountain Witches and Citadel Witches were positioned, “…these people, they need to have a free hand. You cannot be caught in the crossfire.”

Jakob took Eric’s shoulder and the young man, after a final glance at his father, then at Rachel, followed. The pair disappeared into the rock.

They have been busy here. Tunnels and hideaways have been dug throughout this terrain. That is what Karen meant about Queen Annalisse setting up the ground beforehand. The queen is a chess master, you must remember that. She will prevail.

“May I go now?” Rachel asked the moment Eric was safely out of the way. “Annalisse and her people could be killed at any second. I know Katie’s power. Not even the queen can face her in open battle like this.”

“We are ready,” Karen said.

Rachel knelt and placed her palms to the ground. She didn’t want to overdraw energy and become too sick to be of any use in the coming events, yet she wanted no mistakes. Katie would be distracted by the fight; it would probably take a large amount of Rachel’s channeling to draw the sorceress’s attention.

Rachel placed an image in her mind of her sisters, Gertrude and Eustice and the other Lower Mountain Witches; the Edwards, father and son; Candice, Jakob and Karen; Queen Annalisse and her Upper Mountain Witches. This strengthened her. Rachel felt for the threads of heat beneath her and, finding a large one, drew.

The energy seized her, paralyzing her body, as if a large current of electricity were entering her, shocking her senses.

The lesson of the candle!

Rachel breathed deeply, calming her mind, and remembering the images of her new family. She could not fail. All depended upon her.

The ground cooled as she removed the energy within. In only a few moments, she had drawn more than she had ever done at once. More, probably, than she had drawn in total over the past year.

A strand of the Power reached out to her. Katie. Rachel collapsed onto the rock ground.