09 - Return Of The Witch (27 page)

“I see. That makes sense.”

“To answer your second question, completely empty means dead empty.”

“No
! We can’t have that.” Dominic took Ursula’s hands in his and drew them to his lips. “Ursula, listen to me. You’ve got to give that back to Lilith. I don’t want you to have it. Do this one thing for me and I’ll never, ever tell you what to do again.”

“It doesn’t work like that,” I said. “She can’t give it to anyone but the
Guardian Supreme. For the record, though, you shouldn’t ever tell her what to do anyway.”

“Lilith. This is insane! You can’t pit Ursula against Gypsy. That’s not a fair fight.”

“Who said anything’s fair? Besides, this isn’t my doing. I’m not the one who came back from the Eighth Sphere with the powers of the quintessential.”

Carlos said, “That’s it then, isn’t it?”

“What’s it?”

“Well, that’s a big deal, ain’t it, the power of the quintessential?
You said so yourself it’s abstract energy, the true force behind magick. You said it’s what allows you to make zip balls, conjure up thought forms, shape-shift and perform a host of other cool witchy things. That’s what you said.”

“Yes. I said that. What’s your point?”

“My point is, doesn’t that give Ursula an edge over Gypsy? With the quintessential, she ought to be able to do all the things Gypsy can do and more.”

“Well, sure
, theoretically, but you have to know how to use it first. It’s like a newborn baby. It’s got feet and legs and whatnot, yet it can’t walk for a year or more.”

“A baby horse can walk after only a
n hour or two, a baby deer sooner, right away even.”

“Are you saying Ursula’s a horse?”

“No. I’m saying Ursula already knows magick. If a newborn already knew how to walk, then running would come much easier.”

“He has a point,” said Dominic. “
Look what she did at the cannery.”

“Yeah, and it’s a good thing
it took Gypsy by such surprise. A show of force like that again could be just what Gypsy’s hoping for.”

“Is there a difference in magick?” Dominic asked.

“What do you mean?”

“
You keep saying that Ursula can’t demonstrate her powers of the quintessential. How does she know what that is? What differentiates regular magick from quintessential magick?”

“Yeah,” said Carlos. “That’s a good question. If Ursula, say, throws a zip ball a
t Gypsy, how would Gypsy know the difference?”

I scratched my head at that and shrugged. “I don’t know. That is a good question. Certainly
, what she did at the cannery this morning was quintessential magick.”

“What did Paige tell you about
it?”

“She told Ursula to throw everything she had at Gypsy.” I held my hand out, palm facing the
boys the way Paige did it for us. “Like this.” I shook my hand to simulate crazy wicked energy spewing from it.

Dominic
asked, “And what is that, like the hand of death or something?”

“I don’t know. That’s what Paige did.”

“That’s how Gypsy will know it’s coming,” Carlos said. “She’ll be looking for it.”

I nodded. “You’re right.
You know there really isn’t anything else in witchcraft where one holds her hand out like that.”

“She has to be ready for it then.
Like you said, she can’t take it from Ursula unless she’s expecting it.”

“Sure,” agreed Dominic. “She
needs that sign, that signal that’s it’s coming, probably because she has to do something first, something to prepare.”

“That makes sense,” I said. “A proper handoff of power would normally require some sort of c
ooperation, I would think.”

Carlos
asked, “Did she do anything different with you?”

“
With me?”

“
Yeah, when she thought you had the quintessential. Did she ever make a move to indicate she was preparing to accept transfer of power?”

“
No, not that I can think…. Wait! The key!” I snapped my fingers to accentuate the uh-ha moment. “She can’t force a vapor resonance effect on the keeper of the quintessential, but she does need the key to initiate a power transfer.” I looked to Dominic and Carlos. “That’s how we’ll know she’s about to make the connection.”

Dominic
asked, “Are you sure?”

“Yes. Back in the cow pasture when she had me trapped up in a tree, she started blowing that
damn whistle. She had to think I was about to unleash the quintessential on her.”

“And at the cannery,” said Dominic. “
I saw her blow into the whistle there, too, just as she cut the cable holding the container over your head.”

“
That’s it then. Ursula can perform whatever quintessential magick she wants to just so long as Gypsy isn’t blowing the whistle.”

“
But what quintessential magick is that?” asked Carlos.

“I don’t know.”

We all turned to Ursula. Until then, she had barely said two words. She seemed to shy away from the attention, but when I coaxed her with a gentle touch, her words came out in soft-spoken syllables.

“I know not what magick dwells within
me, only that which I have tried and seen for mine own eyes.”

Dominic said, “Well, what I saw was pretty darn impressive.”

“It was too spontaneous,” I said. “She had no control over that. This is serious. We have to know that she can hold her own in a confrontation with Gypsy.”

“
How do we do that?”

“I don’t know.
” I checked the clock on the wall. “We better think of something quick, though. I told Paige to tell Gypsy we’d be waiting for her under the old stone bridge tonight at six.”

“Six!” Carlos checked his watch. “Couldn’t you have made it seven? Tonight’s meatball madness down at the Perc. It doesn’t even start until five.”

“Carlos. The fate of the entire universe hinges on what happens tonight, and you’re worried about a few meatballs?”

“Oh, sure.” He sat back in his chair
, deflated. “When you put it like that.”

“We still have time.” I grabbed Ursula by the shoulders and squared them to mine. “Ursula, you need to know that I will never let anything happen to you.
No matter what, I will protect you. Do you understand?”

“Aye
. I have no fear but for that which may harm thee.”

“Don’t worry about me.”

“Wait just a second,” said Dominic. “Lilith, I can protect my wife just fine, thank you.”

“And you’ll get your chance
. We’ll all need to work together in order to pull this off.”

“Pull what off?” asked Carlos.

I winced a little. “I’m not exactly sure yet, but I’ll figure out something. In the meantime, can you take me back to my house? There’s something there I have to get.

Chapter 24

Before
taking on Gypsy, I thought we might first try out some of Ursula’s powers of the quintessential. We gathered outside in my back yard. To make it easy on Ursula, I decided to start with something that should have been simple for her.

“Thou wish me to disappear?”
she asked.

“
Yes, but remember this isn’t the same as a cloaking spell, because that doesn’t work on witches. If you truly have the quintessential, then I know you can do this. It’s a simple case of matter redistribution. You’re standing here, and you want to go there, but you want to do it secretly. What do you do?”

“Run?”

“No. Again. We’re talking magick. You want to go from here,” I pointed at her feet, “to there.” I pointed at a spot some ten feet away. “And you don’t want anyone to see you.”

“Oh, I know.
I will use magick.”

“Now you’re getting it.” I stood back and presented
her a path with a sweep of my hand. “Whenever you’re ready.”

Ursula nodded, clasped her hands at her chest, closed her eyes and walked from point A to point B.
When she opened her eyes again, we were all standing in front of her. She smiled proudly. “How was that?”

“Good,” I said, “except that you were only invisible to yourself.”

“Ye did see me?”

Dominic stroked her
forearm lightly with the back of his hand. “Yeah, honey, we saw you. All you did was close your eyes and walk over here. You didn’t disappear.”

“Ursula.” I took her hand and led her back to where she started. “If you do this right, you won’t actually feel yourself walking. You’ll
merely dismantle your material body, migrate over there and then reappear again. Simple, right?”

“Aye. `Tis a walk in the park.”

“Yeah…except don’t walk. Remember that.”

She nodded.

“All right then. Give her room.”

I must say, Ursula does have
gumption. The girl will try anything. I’ve heard of witches experimenting with matter redistribution in controlled environments, usually with the help of the coven. Too often, though, it ends in disaster.

Séances are prime examples of where not to attempt it
. Unfortunately, that’s usually where witches try applying it the most. Matter redistribution with ghost plasma present has been known to give physical life to the dead; in as far as the ghost spirit acquires the body of the host willing to give up his own spirit, if only temporarily.

That’s not to say that Ursula
put herself at any great risk of forfeiting her body to a rogue spirit, but an attempt at body hijacking by another spirit was not entirely out of the question.

We watched her fold her arms at her chest and tilt her head back slightly. She leveled her eyes and focused on the spot at which she hoped to end up some ten feet away. Then, incredibly, she disappeared.

I heard Dominic gasp, or maybe it was Carlos. Both were standing behind me, and both grabbed onto one of my arms.

After about five seconds, Dominic asked, “
Soooo, where is she?”

I didn’t answer because I didn’t know.

He said it louder. “Where is she, Lilith?”

I thought I sensed a
bit of panic in his voice. “Give her time, Dominic.”

Another five seconds
passed. “Um…Lilith?”

“Dominic, this is new for everyone. Give her a minute
and she’ll—”

He tapped me on the shoulder. “Lilith.”

I turned to him. “What?”

He pointed back at the house. Ursula was on the roof, arms still folded at her chest, her smile weak but encouraging.

“Ursula, what are you doing up there?”

She raised her shoulders and dropped them.
“I missed.”

After finding a ladder and getting
her down, I decided to try another approach. “Disappearing is more of a defensive move,” I said. “Gypsy’s quite tenacious. I think a better strategy is to put you on offense.”

Carlos asked, “What do you have in mind?”

“Well, if we’re going to beat Gypsy at her own game, then we’re going to have to put
her
on the defense.” I turned to Ursula. “I know you’re a gentle soul, Ursula, and that deep down, aggression is not in your blood, but—”

“I will do it
.”

“
Do what?”

“I will do what I must. Thou need only
say it.”

I looked at Dominic who merely shrugged. “All right then.
” I pointed to a rusty old barbecue grill about thirty feet out in the yard. “Let’s see what you can do with that.”

She looked at me queerly. “
Doth thou wish me to grill burgers?”

“No
. I don’t want you to grill burgers.”

Carlos said, “I wouldn’t mind a—”

“We’re not grilling burgers, Carlos.”

“Just saying.”

“Ursula. Think of the grill as Gypsy and see what you can do with it. Remember, she wants to hurt you. You have to stop her.”

We stepped back to give
her room. She turned toward the grill and rolled up her sleeves. Carlos and Dominic rolled theirs up, too. Camaraderie, I guess. She leveled her right hand and waved it in a quick slashing motion, slicing the lid off the grill in a single swipe.

“Good
,” I said. “That’s really good.”

She smiled
sheepishly. “I tried only to move it.”

“
Oh. Well, maybe you tried too quickly.”

Dominic said, “
Yeah, honey. Try it again, this time slower.”

“Aye.”

Ursula hiked her sleeves up higher, repositioned her stance and readdressed the grill. She drew her hand across her line of sight, this time from right to left. Though the grill failed to move, she did manage to accomplish an amazing feat nonetheless, driving a forty-foot tall pine tree some twenty feet across the yard.

“Wow!” I said, and I heard Carlos and Dominic echo
that. “Impressive.”

Ursula turned her eyes away, obviously disappointed. “`Twas not my intent to move
a tree.”

“Yeah, but that’s okay,” I told her. “I wanted it moved. That tree blocked my view of the, um…
” I waved my hand in a flutter, “other trees.”

“Doth thou mean it?”

“Of course. Look at you, all psychic and everything. Crazy girl. That’s what you are.”

She smiled.
“Crazy girl.” I could tell she liked that distinction. “That is what I am.”

Dominic said. “Forget the grill
, honey.” He pointed at the tool shed in the corner of the yard. “Imagine Gypsy’s hiding behind that. What would you do?”

“Dominic, I don’t think that’s such a good—”

“It’s okay. She can do this.” He turned Ursula around and pointed her at the shed. “See if you can lift it off the ground.”

“Oh, geez, Dominic, this isn’t going to end well.”

“Lilith, I know she can do it. Ursula, listen to me. Take a deep breath and relax. It’s mind over matter. That’s all it is. Imagine the shed is a balloon. You’re going to lift it in the air, look behind it and then set it back down.”

“Dominic.”

“Lilith, please. Have faith.”

I wanted to tell her no, not to try it, but I also didn’t want to discourage her. To tell her not to try it would be like telling her I didn’t think she could do it. If she didn’t believe she could do it, then of course she wouldn’t be able to do it. So, against my better judgment, I stepped back and let her try.

At first, everything seemed fine. Imagining it was a balloon, Ursula was able to lift the shed by simply pointing to it and elevating it some eight or nine feet into the air. Dominic could not have been prouder.

“That’s it!” he said
. “You did it! Wasn’t that easy?”

“Yes!” she said, and she clapped her hands excitedly. The shed, still under her control, imploded
, crushed on all six sides into a box smaller than an ice cube. It dropped to the ground and sunk several inches in the dirt.

“My shed!” I splayed my
arms to encompass the loss. “Are you happy, Dominic? Are you happy now?”

“Relax. You can get another shed.”

“No.
You
can get me another shed.”

“
It’s not my fault. If you didn’t—”

“If I didn’t what? Take her to the
Eighth Sphere so that she—”

“
ENOUGH!” cried Ursula. “
I
will get thee thy shed back.”

She balled her fist up and opened it quickly, as if casting water off the tips of her fingers. The shed instantly reformed, proportioned as it was
in perfect condition, completely intact.

“
Now
that’s
a neat trick,” I said. “Ursula, could you do it again if you had to?”

“I cannot say,” she admitted. “I know not what I did
this time.”

Dominic said, “I
t was too spontaneous. She did it to stop us from bickering.”

“That’s all right. At least we know she can do some phenomenal things. In the heat of battle, her instincts may be all we need to defeat Gypsy.”

“Instincts is good,” Carlos said, “but I’d feel better if we had a plan.”

“I have a plan,
and with a bit of luck, we may not need any magick at all.”

“And without luck
?”

“Without luck, we’re going to need everything to work
seamlessly.”

“So, what’s the plan?”

“Not yet. I want to see if she can go tit-for-tat with Gypsy on less tactile things first.”

“Like what?”

“Like demonstrating certain aptitudes of the prime essentials. We know that Gypsy can already do that. Ursula visited the points of acquisitions, that is, the places where Gypsy vaporized the four guardians. Through residual contact, she’s already facilitated instances of paranormal manifestations there. I want to see if that relationship transcends proximity where the quintessential is concerned.”

“You mean you want to see if she can manifest the effects of the prime essentials at will.”

“Wow.” I looked at Dominic. “What did he do, take a smart pill?” Dominic only smiled. “Yes, Carlos. I want to see if she can express traits of the prime elements in her magick.”

“
What is first?” asked Ursula. “Doth thou wish I should turn calm skies to gray?”

“You think you can? I mean, we’re not talking any
thing super big now. A simple rain cloud or baby dust devil will do, just to show you got it.”

“So be it.”

I stepped back to let Ursula do her thing. The fact she volunteered, led me to believe she could do great things, so my level of anticipation was high. The look on my face must have told Carlos and Dominic something as well. Both took their cue from me and eased back a full fifteen feet.

With
no other preparation, Ursula placed her left hand across her chest and held her right hand in the air, index finger pointing skyward. She looked up at her finger and began twirling it counterclockwise, slowly at first, but soon very quickly. In no time, a tiny funnel-shaped column of spiraling wind appeared, dancing on the tip of her finger like a cobra swaying to the hypnotic notes of an Indian flute. It stood only a foot or so tall, gray and white with jet-black wisps streaking through it.

I assumed it would grow to some degree where she would then release it, allowing
it to take on a life of its own.

T
hat’s not what happened.

Instead, t
he twister began, for lack of a better description, eating Ursula.

It started by enveloping her hand, though it didn’t just wrap around it, as I swear I saw her fingers and thumb sucked up within the swirling mix.
She and the twister were dissolving into one. It consumed her hand and then the rest of her arm all the way to her shoulder. It didn’t seem to alarm her; in fact, her smile told me she rather enjoyed it. Dominic was not so agreeable.

“I don’t like this,” he said to me. “Make her stop.”

I shook my head. “I can’t, Dominic. She’s in control, not me.”

We watched as the growing tempest
continued its slide, swallowing her head and both shoulders, and eventually her torso down to the narrowest part of her belly just above her hips. At that point, it stopped growing, leaving us with essentially a tornado with legs.

“Wow,” said Carlos. “Now that’s something you don’t see every day.”

Dominic, obviously sensing something wrong, said to me, “What’s happening, Lilith?”