The Monster of Creasy's Hollow (Defenders of the Rift Book 1) (2 page)

“
Anyone?” Chip asked, looking at the rest.
Same result. No one had paid Waldo’s body any attention right
after the light show. Not until Alvin had noted that it was gone.

“
Well, I don’t know, then,” Chip
admitted defeat. “I really thought this would work.”

“
Well, I got homework,” Angie said finally.
“And it’s laundry night, too.”

“
I’m supposed to be online at seven for a
tourney,” Alvin agreed, looking at his watch.

“
I have to mow the lawn before dark,” Donny
nodded.

“
Well, that’s that, then, I guess,”
Chip sighed. “Will you guys help me get this stuff home?”

“
I will,” Donna volunteered.

“
Me too,” Alvin agreed, checking his watch
again.

“
See you guys tomorrow,” Chip told Angie and
Donny. With Alvin and Donna’s help, he got the ‘ingredients’
home without mishap, and the other two teens went their respective
ways.

Disappointed, Chip walked inside to do his own homework.
He’d always had trouble with math.

Across town, Charles ‘call me Chuck’ Douglas
pulled himself off the floor using his desk as a prop, his face
showing alarm. He knew what the blue light that had shot through town
a bare minute before meant.

Someone, somewhere in Creasy’s Hollow, had just
performed a sacrifice of some kind. And it had worked. If it hadn’t,
then there wouldn’t have been a power release. This had been a
strong one if he was any judge. With his background, he was a pretty
fair judge too. And right now, his instincts were screaming at him
that something bad had just happened.

He closed his office as quickly as he could, and started
for home. He needed to study on this. Try and find out what had
happened. And why.

It took longer than normal to lock the door today. His
hands were shaking.

*****

Albert and Valina Thomas had been closing their hardware
store up when the light shot through the store, and them, knocking
both to the floor. The two store owners got to their feet, each
checking on the other, then looking at each other, asking the same
question at the same time.

“
What was that?”

Neither had an answer. Albert shook a little as a shiver
went up his spine. As a practitioner of arcane arts, he knew what the
blue light represented, but. . . .

“
There’s no way they could have done this
without us,” Valina said, heading off his thoughts.

“
I never thought they would,” Alvin replied
honestly. “But. . .that means someone, somewhere here in town
probably judging from the strength of that spell, just did. We need
to get everyone together and find out what the hell is going on,
Val.”

They hurriedly finished locking up their store, and
headed for the Creasy Spoon.

*****

Kathryn Harold shook her head in a vain effort to clear
the stars from her eyes left from hitting her head on the counter
when the light had shot through. She had only a few customers at this
time of day, and hurriedly checked to ensure they and her employees
were all right. There were no injuries, but everyone was shaken.

“
Kat, what the hell was that?” Susie Orly,
her waitress asked, still looking a bit shaken.

“
No idea,” Kat lied, shaking her head.
“Maybe some kind of power surge?”

“
Don’t think so,” her cook, Damian
Thomas was shaking his head, having walked out front. “If it
was, it should have shorted out every appliance in the place.
Everything in here is still running.” He pointed to the
bubbling coffee maker and the ceiling lights as if to prove his
theory.

“
Did it damage anything?” Kat asked, more to
cover her own fear than anything else. She knew exactly what it had
been, and to say she was concerned was an understatement.

“
No, we’re fine,” Damian shook his
head.

“
I need to go and check on Angie,” Kat told
the other two. “You two close up and go on home, if you don’t
mind?”

“
We’ll take care of it,” Damian
promised, and Susie nodded. Neither had children to check on.

“
Thanks, both of you,” Kat managed to smile.
“See you tomorrow.”
I hope
.

She had scarcely stepped outside when the Thomas’
pulled into the parking lot, looking worried.

“
Kat, did you. . . .?” Alvin began.

“
Yes, I did. I’m on my way home to check on
Angie, and then. . .we have to find out what happened.”

“
We’ll do the same. Meet you at Chuck’s?”

“
Works,” Kat nodded, hurrying to her car.

Whatever had just happened, it could only be trouble.
For all of them.

*****

Belinda Craig-Johnson had been leaving the local
supermarket when the spell light had passed through her. She had
managed to stay on her feet, but the chill ran completely through to
her bones.

Knowing immediately what had happened, or at least
having a working theory about it, she had loaded her groceries in
record time and was on her way home. She tried calling Chuck, but
there was no answer. Not even voice mail, which was odd.

Pulling into her drive, she was relieved to see Donny
mowing, as he should have been. Donna came out when Belinda honked
the car horn.

“
Hi, mom!” she waved.

“
Hi, sweetie,” she smiled despite her worry.
“Have your brother help you unload the groceries, and put them
away, please,” she asked, walking to her husband’s truck.
“I have another errand I have to run, and then I’ll be
home to fix supper.”

“
Sure, mom,” Donna agreed, waving for her
brother. Belinda’s husband, Paul Johnson, was the kid’s
step-father, and a long haul truck driver. The pay was good, and he
had enough time in that he was home most weekends, including Fridays.
He wouldn’t be home for two more days.

Belinda forced herself to pull away from the house
slowly, so as not to alarm her children. She had to see Chuck, right
away.

*****

“
Hi, dad,” Chip said when Charles walked
into the house. “You’re home early.”

“
Slow day,” Chuck said absently. “Where’s
your mom?” he asked.

“
Out back doing something,” Chip shrugged,
returning to his homework.

“
Thanks, buddy,” Chuck nodded, slipping
outside. He saw his wife of eighteen years, Stacey, looking out at
the darkening sky to the east, arms wrapped around herself.

“
Hey, babe,” he said gently, so as not to
startle her. She almost jumped, turning to see him, relief passing
over her face.

“
Charles,” she almost whispered, hugging
him. “Did you feel. . . .?”

“
I sure did,” he told her, hugging her
tightly in return for a second. “Do you think the others. . .
.?”

“
No,” Stacey shook her head firmly. “They’d
never try without you, and the four of them aren’t strong
enough for something like that, anyway.”

“
I’m not sure any of us are,” Chuck
admitted. “There was real power behind that spell light, Stace.
It was stronger than anything I’ve ever felt.”

“
Me too,” she agreed. “I. . . .”
Whatever else she had been about to say was cut off by the screeching
of brakes toward the front of their house. Hand in hand, the two
walked around front to see the Thomas’ getting out of their
truck.

“
Hey you two,” Chuck said in way of
greeting.

“
Chuck, did you feel that?” Albert said
without preamble.

“
I’d say everyone in Creasy’s Hollow
felt it, Al,” Chuck nodded. Before either could say anything
else, Belinda Johnson screeched to a halt in front of their house in
her husband’s truck.

“
Guys! Guys did you. . . .”

“
Keep it down,” Valina cautioned. “And
yes, of course we did.” Belinda had always been a little
high-strung, and something like this would have her approaching panic
mode if they weren’t careful.

“
What in the world was it?” Belinda asked
breathlessly.

“
We don’t know,” Chuck admitted. “All
I know is that it was very, very powerful. Honestly, at this point,
I’m more interested in who did it. Well, I’m at least
as
interested,” he corrected. “Not knowing what it was is
troubling.”

“
Troubling?” Valina eyebrow’s shot up.
“Chuck, your understatement is showing.” The others
enjoyed a good laugh at that, albeit a nervous one. They needed it.
Before anymore discussion started, Kat arrived, pulling into the
drive a bit more sedately than the others.

“
Well, looks like the gang’s all here,”
she snorted, getting out of her car. “I take it we all
experienced the same thing?”

“
The whole town experienced it, I’m sure,”
Albert replied, nodding.

“
I had maybe eight customers, plus Susie and
Damian. All of them felt it. Saw it.” Kat’s face showed
concern. “That was some strong stuff, guys. Someone’s
playing in our back yard, and they’re pretty powerful.”

“
Agreed,” Chuck nodded. “As I see it,
the first thing we have to do, if we can, is figure out what kind of
spell that was. We need to know what happened, or what’s going
to happen, as a result of all that. I’m almost positive it was
a sacrifice of some kind, but what kind I don’t know.”

“
Sacrifice?” the others managed to say in
unison.

“
Yep,” Chuck nodded. “I don’t
know what, or who to or for, but there’s almost nothing else
that would produce a wave like that with a blue tinge. I don’t
know of anyone else anywhere near us,” he added. “Have
any of you heard anything at all about a different group in our
area?”

Heads shook in the negative all around the huddle. The
small group of practitioners, always careful to avoid the word
‘coven’, had thought they were the only active practicing
occultists in their area of the state, let alone the Hollow. It was
obvious to Chuck that all were worried.

“
Whoever they were,” Albert said into the
silence, “I’d say they’re a lot more powerful than
we are.”

“
I have to agree,” Chuck nodded grimly.
“We’ve never practiced a spell or ritual that produced
that kind of power.”

“
What does that tell us?” Kat asked. “How
does it help us?”

“
For the moment, it doesn’t, not really,”
Stacey shook her head. “Without knowing who they are, or where
they might be, our options are pretty limited.”

“
Is there any chance they’re. . .well,
aggressive?” Belinda asked, looking around as if someone even
now might be watching them. “Could they know about us? Be a
threat to us?”

“
Let’s don’t jump to conclusions,
now,” Chuck held up his hands in a placating manner. “Until
we actually know something, we don’t know anything. Agreed?”

“
No,” Valina shook her head. “We know
for sure someone else is practicing, and you already said they’re
stronger than we are. So we know that, don’t we?”

“
I didn’t say they were stronger than us,”
Chuck replied carefully. “I said we’d never done anything
that produced that kind of power.”

“
I said they were more powerful than us, and you
agreed,” Albert pointed out.

“
Okay, I did say that,” Chuck admitted. “But
let’s don’t automatically assume that whoever did this is
aggressive toward us, or even know who we are. For all we know,
they’re just passing through the area.”

“
Or they’ve been here all along, and we
never noticed,” Valina retorted. “I don’t think
you’re taking this seriously enough, Chuck.”

“
What do you expect him to do?” Stacey
asked. “You know as much as we do!”

“
Chuck is the leader,” Belinda shot back.
“It’s his job to know!”

“
Look, this isn’t getting us anywhere,”
Chuck himself held up a hand before the argument could develop
further. “All we know, for sure, is that someone worked a spell
of some kind. One I’m fairly certain was a sacrificial spell,
though I can’t say I know that for sure, or what kind it was.
What I’m worried about is whether or not it was a summoning.”

“
You mean. . . ?” Albert’s eyes
widened.

“
That’s exactly what I mean,” Chuck
nodded. “I can’t imagine anyone actually doing a spell
like that. They’re stupidly dangerous. Even the best ones. The
simplest summoning can open a door you just don’t want to open.
One that’s hard to get closed again, too.”

“
We’ve never done anything like that, have
we?” Kat asked hesitantly.

“
Not even close,” Chuck shook his head.
“Remember, we started this as an alternative healing method,
and then began using it for good fortune in business. Everything
we’ve done has been passive. Positive. Completely so,” he
added for emphasis.

“
Well, someone must have decided to open that
particular box,” Belinda piped up again. “What do we do
now?”

“
I don’t know that we
can
do
anything,” Chuck admitted. “We don’t know who did
it, or where. I can’t even be sure what kind of spell it was,
like I said. I think it was a sacrificial one, but . . . that covers
a lot of ground, guys. I need to study on this,” he added,
frowning. “Maybe there’s something I can find, a
description that matches what we saw, that will tell us what we’re
dealing with. Other than that, all we can do is stay alert.”