Part 32 (2/2)

Once we reached the woods, Cortez lowered Savannah's body to the ground. Then he turned, raised his hands, and said a few words. As he swept his right hand across the air, the spirits vanished.

”I thought you couldn't do that kind of magic,” I said, wheezing as I struggled for breath.

”I said I saw no need to learn how to conjure such spirits. I did, however, see a distinct need to learn how to un-conjure them. Unfortunately, it's a geographically limited spell.”

”Meaning if we leave the woods, they'll return. Fine by me. I haven't run that fast since grade school. No, strike that, I've never never run that fast.” run that fast.”

I lowered myself to the ground beside Savannah and checked her vital signs. She was unconscious, but breathing fine.

”How come they keep following her?” I asked.

”To be honest, I have no idea. Perhaps they're feeding off her energy. I would a.s.sume, from my knowledge of witch folklore, that the sudden surge in a witch's powers during first menses renders those powers unpredictable.”

”That's an understatement.”

I leaned against a tree and exhaled. At my feet, a wisp of light floated from the earth. I jumped up so fast I banged my head against an overhanging limb.

”I thought you-”

Cortez waved me to silence. As I watched, the light drifted upward. Unlike the earlier spirits, this light was pure white. It floated up as lazily as smoke from a dying fire. When it reached a height of about five feet, it stopped and s.h.i.+mmered, growing denser.

At a motion to my left, I looked and saw four other towers of light, each a different height. I looked at Cortez, but he lifted a hand, as if telling me to watch and wait. The cones of light took on form. Particles of light flowed from all sides, adding to the shapes and giving them definition.

Before me stood five people dressed in Colonial-era clothing. A man and a boy in doublets and breeches, a woman and a teenage girl in fitted jackets, skirts, and white caps, and a toddler, its gender indeterminate in its long white gown. Though the light remained white, the forms were so solid, I could see the wrinkles around the man's eyes. Those eyes stared directly into mine. The man turned to the woman and spoke, lips moving soundlessly. She nodded and replied.

”Ghosts,” I said.

The girl tilted her head and frowned at me, saying something to her mother. Then the boy reached out toward Cortez. His father leaped forward and caught his arm, lips moving in a silent scolding. Even the toddler stared up at us, wide-eyed. When I stepped toward the child, the mother swept up the little one in her arms, glaring at me. The father stepped toward his wife, motioning the other two children closer. The boy's hands moved in the sign of the evil eye.

”Only they don't know who the ghosts are,” I said.

Cortez gave a tiny smile. ”Do you?”

The family, now cl.u.s.tered together, turned and began walking away. The toddler grinned and waved at us over his mother's shoulder. I waved back. Cortez extended his left hand. I thought he was going to wave, but he said a few words in Latin. As he balled his hand into a fist, the family began to fade. Just before they vanished, the daughter glanced over her shoulder and shot us an accusing glare.

”Rest in peace,” I whispered. I turned to Cortez. ”I thought you said Savannah cast a spell for summoning nature spirits, not ghosts.”

”It is. But Savannah's spell seems to be doing a lot it was never intended to do.”

”How do we stop it?”

”By getting her out of this graveyard.”

”That'll end it?”

”I hope so. Now, when we leave these woods, the spirits will return but, as you saw, they intend no harm. You simply have to move through them, as you moved through that sorcerer illusion in the funeral home.”

”Got it. If we head south, we'll hit the road. There's no fence, so we can-”

A howling cut me off. Not the howls of the spirits, but the distinct howl of a dog on a scent.

”The hounds of h.e.l.l, I presume,” Cortez said.

”I wouldn't bet against it. But I think those are tracking dogs, probably with the police.”

”Ah, I forgot about the police. Problem number sixty-three, I believe.”

”Sixty-four. The unconscious bodies scattered around Katrina Mott's grave are sixty-three. Or they will be, when they wake up.” I took a deep breath. ”Okay. Let's think. There's a stream to the west. Dogs can't follow a trail through water. Plus, it's in the opposite direction, so we'll get a head start.”

”West it is, then.” He hauled Savannah's limp form over his shoulder. ”Lead the way.”

So we ran. . . away from the gun-toting state troopers, through a swirling ma.s.s of spirits, pursued by baying hounds, surrounded by the screams of the d.a.m.ned. You know, I think the mind has a saturation point, beyond which it just doesn't give a d.a.m.n. Spirits? Hounds? Cops? Who cares? Just keep running and it'll all go away.

This whole running-away business is getting tedious, so here's the condensed version: Run to water. Tramp through water. Fail to evade hounds. Throw fireb.a.l.l.s at hounds. Make mental note to send sizable donation to SPCA. Reach road. Jog to car. Collapse, wheezing, beside car. Get dragged into car by Cortez. Mutter excuse about childhood asthma. Make mental note to join a gym.

”Do you have the dirt?” Cortez asked. ”Dirt?”

I cannot describe the look on his face. The shock. The disbelief. The horror.

”Oh, that that dirt.” I pulled both bags from my pocket. ”Got it.” dirt.” I pulled both bags from my pocket. ”Got it.”

I relinquished the driving to Cortez so I could stay in the backseat with Savannah, who was still unconscious. Good thing, too, because, while I consider myself an excellent driver, I have little experience at it, having always preferred to walk or ride my bike. The upshot being that, had I been behind the wheel, I would have been ill-prepared to handle what happened next.

Cortez pulled onto the road, not turning us back toward the highway, but heading farther down the dirt road, away from the cemetery front gates. Before we reached the first crossroad, sirens sounded behind us. I twisted to look out the rearview mirror and saw a state police car bearing down on us, lights flas.h.i.+ng.

”s.h.i.+t!” I said. ”Don't pull over!”

”I wasn't about to. Are you both buckled in?”

”Yes.”

”Hold on, then.”

With that, he turned off the headlights and hit the gas.

Chapter 37.

The Conscientious Car Thief Margaret's car was an Oldsmobile, an old Olds, probably from the mid-eighties. This meant that it went like a bat out of h.e.l.l, but didn't corner so well, as Cortez discovered the first time he sailed around a bend and nearly went into the ditch. On the plus side, the Olds, being a wide-bodied car, was also good at off-roading.

Yes, I said ”off-roading,” as in leaving the road and cutting through a farmer's field. Imagine it, please. It's past midnight, with no discernible moon or stars, the headlights are off, and you're rocketing across a rutted field at forty miles an hour. Let me a.s.sure you, for sheer terror, it ranks right up there with getting your breath sucked out by a koyut.

How we managed to get to the other side without flipping over is beyond me. The car never even slid. Before we'd gone fifty feet into the field, the police cruiser backed off.

We shot out the other side onto empty country roads.

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