A Witch's Path (19 page)

"Two minutes." I quickly capped and sealed the Energy Strips, Sorc-O-Meters, and the glass bottle. Once they were safely stowed in my bag, I marched to the exit, stripping off the gloves, lab coat, and glasses.
 

"Let's go to my office," Patrick said.
 

We ended up sitting in his office, looking at each other, silence filling the space between us.
 

"I have to get going. I have an appointment in Dahlonega."

Patrick nodded, "I don't know what to say. I didn't expect good news, but I didn't think we'd see that."

I hadn't been prepared either. Logically, I knew this was a possible outcome, but it wasn't one I expected. Finding seven people dead because an evil roamed the land was troubling.
 

Looking at those people, not bodies but people, the dead people, had changed me because I wasn't afraid, or worried.
 

I was angry.

Those people had died because evil fed off suffering, fear, and death.

"Michelle?"

"Oh, uh, I didn't see that coming."

"I guess I should tell the captain."

"He should know," I said slowly.
 

"What do we do? How do we protect ourselves?" His voice was loud and thin.

I shook myself out of my thoughts and studied him. "Tell your captain what we found. Then you tell him being in groups is better than being alone. I'll do some research and we can work out our next move."

"Will you keep working with us if we are facing evil?" Patrick said the word like it was foreign. In many ways it was. There were plenty of bad things in the world, but this was different. This affected things in ways few evils could.
 

"Yes." I held his gaze. "I'll keep working with you."

"What if…our budget…"

"We will figure it out. I will stand with you." He gave me a tight nod. "I'm sorry to dump this on you and run, but if I don't leave now, I'll be late."

"Okay."

Walking out, my steps were more determined, if lacking the satisfying crack of high heels. I would stand with the police, because I couldn't look at bodies knowing they were people that I'd abandoned. I would stand with the police because evil shouldn't be allowed to ruin lives. I'd stand with them because I didn't know another witch who would, and they would need magic. They would need my magic.
 

*******

I waddled into the Sheriff's office, a duffel over each shoulder and one in my left hand. It was a good thing I didn't have anything in my right hand because the guys were listening to a brief and didn't see me at the door. Huffing, I made it to an empty desk in the back of the room and unloaded. Pushing through the crowd didn't interest me, so I made myself comfortable on top of the desk.
 

A wall of officers blocked my view of the speaker, but there was a short pause followed by Hal's voice.
 

"Michelle and I will approach the house with Grady, Nell, and Jacks for back up. The rest of you will stay back, cars pointed at the exit. When you hear 'green light' from us, you'll attend to your assigned duties, guarding the perimeter or investigating the house. If you hear anything else, get out of dodge. Remember, green light means there is no imminent danger. Considering what we think came out of that house, it's the best we can do.

"The five of us will check the property in stages; keep track of where we are and how that affects your duties. If at any point you think you need magic, you radio us. Don't be afraid to call us over. In fact, if your eyebrow twitches, or your toe itches, call us." No one moved as the officers realized what could be in a house that spawned the king of dinosaurs. "Any questions?"

"Yah," a deep voice came from the other side of the room. "Where's the witch?"

I stayed on the desk, ankles crossed, wand in my hand. I didn't even raise my voice when I said, "Here."

The entire room swiveled to look at me, a mixture of surprise and relief on their faces.

"Good, you're here," Hal said. "Time to go. We leave in ten minutes."
 

The crowd dispersed, mainly to the restrooms.
 

"Good timing, I might've had a riot without you."

"I try. When are you going to tell me the plan?" I asked.
 

"In the car. Are you ready?"

"Give me five. I need use the bathroom. Are we taking your cruiser?" He nodded. "I'll meet you there if you take my bags."

"Sure. Everything else is loaded. Nell will be driving." He waved her over, "And she'll help me load the car."
 

"Thanks." I slipped around the corner to a seldom used women's bathroom. Sure enough, it was empty.
 

While I was washing my hands, the face in the mirror caught my attention. There was a set to my mouth, with the edges pinched, and a wrinkle in my brow that changed me. My face wasn't that of a carefree girl anymore. It was a face that had seen bad things, and knew there were worse things to come.
 

I walked out of the bathroom. No good would come from ruminations. Regardless of what tugged at me, wanting attention, all that mattered right now was that house.
 

Hal and Nell were already in the car. I slid in the back, more than happy to be next to my gear.
 

"Hi, Nell, thanks for driving."

She grinned at me in the rearview mirror. "Wouldn't miss this. It's the most excitement the town's had since the gold rush of '29."

By that, she meant the gold rush of 1829.
 

We were saved from having to think of a response when she revved the engine and shot out of the parking lot. Hal twisted around, "How much of the meeting did you catch?"

"I'm not sure. From what I heard the plan is that Nell, Grady, Jacks, you, and I check everything and then the rest of the force comes in behind us."

"That's the idea. What do you think?"

I thought I should be rescuing Amber, but that wasn't the issue right now. "I don't have a better plan. I can place protection spells on us, and you and I can sniff out any magic."

"Any thoughts, Nell?" Hal asked.

"Dibs on the next dino."
 

Hal was laughing so hard the seat belt was the only thing keeping him upright. I giggled, "Nope, I already claimed the next one. Ty needs a friend."

"Joint custody over both of them?" Nell countered.

"Good luck talking Ty into that," I snorted.
 

"He is attached to you. We'll flip for it."

"Done."
 

We were still laughing when my phone rang.
 

"Oaks Consulting, this is Michelle."
 

"Hey, it's Jones."

"What happened now?" I rubbed my temples. The last thing I needed was another emergency.
 

"You're in luck. I can help you this time. I've got a flock of Gargoyles out here. It looks like they're asleep for the day. Can you come up this afternoon and talk to them when they wake up? I know you were looking for a flock."

"I can be there early evening, four-thirtyish."

"Great. I'll meet you in my office."
 

"See you then," I said before I hung up the phone.
 

"Is everything okay?" Hal asked.
 

"That was good news. Actual, honest to god, good news. A flock of gargoyles is resting for the day in Forsyth. Since Ellijay would like to have a flock of gargoyles, I'm going to talk to them."

Hal nodded. Nell seemed to be ignoring us. We turned off the main road when I was on the phone, and even though this was a well maintained paved road, she was going slow. When the car turned, I thought we were pulling off to park, but what looked like a thin spot on the tress was actually a narrow gravel road. It widened enough in a few spots to allow one car to stop while the other one passed. At the third passing area, Nell turned the car around, and backed it in the direction we'd been traveling, leaving room for other cars to turn around, but blocking access to the house.
 

Behind us another car repeated the process, parking their car two feet from the nose of ours. Nell and Hal got out to talk with the other officer, but I stayed in the car, fitting packets of herbs, and bottles of oil on a belt I'd made. I'd tried the idea when dealing with the trolls, and refined it into my version of a police belt.
 

Getting out of the car, I secured the belt to my hips and made sure it was both comfortable and firmly attached. I double checked the fastening on the wrist sheath on my left arm, snapped my wand in place, and headed over to the group of officers around Hal.

Grady had a bow in his hands, a quiver on his back, and a .45 strapped to his leg. Nell had a knife hilt poking over each shoulder, and a collection of smaller knives in her vest. When she turned around I got a look at the short swords on her back. Like Grady, she was mixing modern and traditional weaponry, with a 9mm on one hip and extra magazines on her other side.
 

I hadn't met Jacks before, but I figured he was the coyote in the police vest. Werecoyotes were resistant to magic. Placing the protection spells on him would be difficult, but it would be harder for other magic to affect him too. Considering what we were about to do, it was a worthwhile tradeoff.
 

Compared to the rest of us, Hal looked very human. His wand was in a wrist sheath like mine, but he had the traditional police gear; gun, cuffs, radio, baton, taser, and OC spray.
 

"I don't think the two of you have met. Michelle, Jacks. Jacks, Michelle," Hal rushed through the introductions. The werecoyote and I nodded at each other while he continued, "Unless someone has an objection, Michelle with lay protections spells on us, and we will slowly approach the house. It's about a quarter of a mile down the road. As we determine that areas are not immediately hazardous, we will communicate that to the rest of the officers, who will hold the area."

"I can't guarantee that any of this will be clear, you do realize that?" I could walk every inch of the ground, looking for spells, and not find one because it only targets shifter, or human, or giants. There were hundreds of reasons I could miss a booby trap.
 

"We know. That's why there are five of us. Between the shifter, elf, human, human with magic, and witch, we should be able to vouch for some amount of safety," Hal answered.

That wasn't particularly reassuring since that logic had more holes than Swiss cheese.
 

"Michelle," Nell said, "We have little illusion of safety. We stand between the danger and citizens."

I nodded, unwilling to comment. When she put it like that, our job descriptions were remarkably similar. When Hal resumed talking, I shoved the thought to the back of my mind. I'd think about it later.
 

"Can you spell us?"
 

"Sure."
 

Palming my wand, I stepped in front of Hal. I gently brushed his vest with the wand, tracing the rune, and pushing power into it. As I finished drawing, I whispered, "Kannu." The words sealed the spell, separating it from my power. It would hold until it exhausted the energy used to create the spell.
 

Repeating the procedure on Nell and Grady was easy enough. Coming face to face with Jacks, I tried to remember what I'd learned about werecoyotes and magic.
 

"Can you do anything to be more receptive to magic?"
 

Jacks tucked his nose under a forearm, covering his eyes. I took that to mean 'no.'
 

Squatting down, I said, "I didn't want to do it this way, but stick out your tongue."

He rolled his eyes, but let his tongue slip out the side of his snout. This hadn't been my first choice, but they were more susceptible to magic introduced internally. His mouth was as close as either one of us would want to come to internal.
 

I tried not to wrinkle my nose at the slobber accumulating on the tip of my wand. Jacks was cross-eyed with the effort to see what I was doing, and his nails were digging into the dirt in an effort to stay still.
 

As my wand moved across his tongue, it became harder and harder to push the energy into the spell. Finishing the rune I wheezed, "Kannu," for the last time. The spell wobbled for a moment, but snapped into place.
 

Jacks must have felt it too because the moment the spell solidified he was on his back, wiggling across the ground, with his paws rubbing his face and tongue.
 

Standing up, I was pleasantly surprised at how little energy I'd expended casting those spells. I was finally back to normal after dealing with Ty two days ago.
 

"Are you ok?" Grady asked.
 

Jacks flipped over, landing on his feet, tail wagging.
 

"He looks fine," Nell said.
 

"Are you guys ready?" Hal asked.

Nell, Grady, and I nodded. Jacks trotted down the road, and looked at us over his shoulder. I took the hint and started after him, wand in hand. They caught up to me three steps down the road.
 

"How far down the road did you go when you scouted this place?" I picked my steps carefully. The gravel had been pushed into the dirt long ago, leaving hard-packed earth with loose rocks on top. Branches and brush crowded the road, leaving enough room for a single narrow car.
 

"Within sight of the house," Hal answered

Reassured that we shouldn't be in immediate danger, I dropped my shields, letting my power expand around me. Letting my power explore the ground and peek behind trees was the passive way of checking for spells and traps. Like was drawn to like, and as my power explored, I could get a feeling for what was around us.

It was hard to limit the flood of information. Every rock, twig, and pebble was interesting to my magic. I adjusted the way the power could move around me, giving it less freedom, and tuning out feedback from things found in ample supply, like trees, leaves, rocks and deadfall.