A Witch's Halloween, page 12
Eager to get away from Montoya, I followed him.
Kent turned down his first aisle.
I went all the way to the aisle against the wall. The store was so packed that costumes bulged off their hooks on the walls. Pet costumes lined the first set of shelves, then quickly gave way to random Halloween trinkets. Rows of skulls, from hyper-realistic to velvet, took up the shelves to my left. On my right, wreaths featuring crows, bones, and bio-hazard signs reached well above my head.
What I didn’t see were any people or even signs of people.
The shelves ended. I glanced to my right. The endcap held pre-decorated pumpkins. Down the line, they held candy, pumpkin carving kits, and wigs. Kent and Montoya emerged from their aisles. Kent went down the next one quickly. Montoya hesitated but did his job. A unicorn dog costume floated after him.
I looked behind me. Nothing. As I turned, a unicorn pumpkin stared back at me. I blinked and focused on the display. The unicorn pumpkins had all been painted with their eyes closed.
The curse was watching us.
I continued down the rest of the aisle. Plenty of costumes. No people.
An adult-sized unicorn onesie turned to peer after me. A shiver ran up my spine. The pumpkin was one thing, but the onesie didn’t even have eyes.
The rest of my aisles went the same way. As soon as I finished, I met up with Kent and Montoya in the front of the store. I didn’t have to ask to know they hadn’t found anything either.
“Did you see a door for a storeroom?” I asked.
Kent nodded. “It was covered in false eyelashes. Dead center in the back.”
“That’s the only other place they could be.” I led the way.
“Or it was a hoax,” Montoya said, lagging behind.
“Nope. There’s a curse here. They couldn’t fake that.” They could’ve created the curse, unintentionally or on purpose. Even then, they wouldn’t be able to control it.
Montoya grumbled, but I ignored him.
Again, I noticed the dog costume peering at us from the end of an aisle. Since it wasn’t causing a problem, I let it be. The curse watching us so obviously could be a good sign. It was interactive and aware. While those features made it dangerous, they’d made our previous negotiation possible. With a little luck, they’d make future negotiations easier.
The door was exactly where Kent had said, and just as creepy. With all the magic around, it was impossible to tell if this door would cause burns. I wrapped two shields around my hand again and turned the knob.
Well, I tried to. It turned a little and wouldn’t budge. “If this is you, I would like to go through the door. I only want to help, and I need to see the building to help.”
Nothing happened.
“The hostages could’ve barricaded themselves in the back,” Kent spoke quietly. “Try knocking.”
I knocked. “Hello? I’m with the police, we’re here to help.”
“Narzel,” Montoya swore.
Wand up, I spun around. An opalescent skeleton of a unicorn walked toward us, horn glowing.
My trust in the curse not killing us only went so far. I tapped the door with my wand. “Purisaz.”
This time, the door swung open. I scrambled in before my brain processed that it was pitch back.
Someone knocked into me from behind. My shin hit something, and I toppled over, losing my grip on my wand.
The concrete was just as cold and hard as it looked. Air whooshed out of my lungs, and all of me ached.
The room swam around me. Two unicorns appeared in the door, floating in and out of one another.
I twisted my wrist to dismiss my wand and then summoned it. It settled into my hand. A quick check reassured me it was unbroken.
The unicorn leaned into the room and lowered its horn.
A black cat appeared in the doorway's light, fur puffed up, back arched, hissing.
The unicorn edged forward.
The cat swatted at it, its paw going through the unicorn’s nose.
The unicorn scrambled back and raced away.
I pushed myself to my feet. My vision was back to seeing the normal amount of everything, but my head was still fuzzy. “Wunho.”
A glowing sphere of light appeared, showing pallets stacked high with boxes as well as loose boxes, like the one I’d tripped over. Kent and Montoya got to their feet. The cat sat in front of the door, calmly licking a paw. Not my problem.
I added a second light, the magic taking less effort this time. Interesting.
I adjusted my shields so I could see magic. A few black swirls drifted around the room, but the curse had little power here.
My head still felt fuzzy, and I swayed a bit as I rounded a pallet. “Found them!”
Five people were sprawled out in a big puppy pile. I checked one person for a pulse, then another. They were alive, just unconscious. I shook a young man’s shoulder. “Wake up. Time to wake up.”
“Muuh.” He rolled over.
Kent shook a woman.
She blinked. “Pretty eyes.”
“They’re drunk.” He said.
Not the first group of drunks I’d come across lately, but the most likely bunch to have gotten into some alcohol. “We still have to get them out of here. Montoya, see if either back door opens.”
“No, ma’am. I tried one of those from the outside. I’m not burning myself again.”
I didn’t try to hide my sigh. “Fine. Help them. I’ll get the door.”
At least he didn’t argue.
The cat came over and joined me by the back door. “You aren’t the first helpful black cat I’ve seen lately. I do appreciate the help.”
It rubbed my ankles.
I gave it a quick scratch behind the ears before shielding my hand. A swirl of opalescent black clung to the doorknob. I tried the handle. It didn’t budge, but it didn’t burn me either. “Let me get the police and other people out. I’ll stay and fix this.”
The curse didn’t move.
“I know you can hear me. I promise, I’ll stay if you let everyone else out.”
The cat yowled.
The curse drifted away from the door.
I turned the handle, and it opened. “Get everyone out, quickly. Assume that if you cross the threshold, you can’t come back.”
The cat planted itself by the open door like a living doorstop. “Good kitty.”
Montoya didn’t waste any time in hauling the boy up and out the door. Kent followed, but called Montoya back to the door to pass the person out.
I got a young woman upright and half-carried her over.
Now that he was outside, Montoya was more than willing to do his part. He took the people from us and guided them away from the door.
Kent and I got the last two people to the exit. “See if any of them are awake enough to tell you if anyone else is in the building.”
Kent hesitated by the door. “Are you sure you want to do this alone?”
“Either I can fix the magic, or I can’t. Without magic, there isn’t much you can do.” I gave a cheeky grin. “If I’m not out in an hour, send help.”
Montoya came back. “It sounds like only the five of them were in the building, which matches what they said before.”
“Good enough.”
Kent squeezed my shoulder. “Be careful. I don’t want to explain to Rodriguez that you got hurt on our watch.” He walked through the door.
The cat trotted after him.
A swirl of cursed magic slammed the door shut.
“It’s me and you now, but this isn’t a battle.” I pivoted and looked through the door and into the main part of the store. “I meant what I said. I want to help.”
The skeletal horse didn’t show up, nor did the phantom unicorn.
With my wand gripped firmly, I headed into the shop. This was going to be tricky if the curse didn’t help me, and why would it? It didn’t know how to heal itself. Sure, it had a type of intelligence. It knew how to hold doors closed and why it should, but that didn’t make it sentient. It couldn’t tell me what was wrong.
Curses had to be true to themselves. Of all the things in the building, there was a reason horses and unicorns were its chosen vectors. Now the question became, what kind of connection? A hoof pick had a connection to horses; that didn’t make it easy to find in a store of this size.
I found the decoration aisles and started looking through the candle holders, statues, and other odds and ends, trying to find anything out of place. When I turned the corner, I noticed the full-sized skeletal horse, and his herd of miniatures, following me. “Are you going to help?”
The large horse tossed its head and charged.
“Narzel.” I scrambled around the corner, the turn too tight for the large horse. It did nothing to slow down the smaller ones.
Something moved above me. Casting a long shadow across the ground.
I ran faster.
A puffy inflatable unicorn with a bright blue mane and tail landed in front of me.
I tried to slow, but my feet slipped. As I fell, a white piece of cloth went up into the air and shaped itself into a unicorn dog costume. Not willing to take any chances, I cast a skin-tight shield around myself.
It did nothing to cushion the impact of the tile floor.
The dog costume and the small skeletal equines trotted around me, lining up with the inflatable unicorn.
My elbow ached, my butt hurt, and I’d lost my wand. I retrieved it from the dusty space under a shelf and got to my feet. Keeping an eye on the skeletons, I slowly backed away.
A quick glance back assured me I had an escape. I looked at the inflatable unicorn again, which hadn’t moved, and then back over my shoulder. The escape was still clear, and the skeletons weren’t follow me.
I glanced back again and froze. The large skeletal horse was standing in the divide between sets of aisles, looking at me. Two masks, one of a horse and one of a unicorn, hovered above small skeletal horses blocking the other side of the aisle.
Sweet bones of Narzel, I’d have to walk in front of them. Straight was the only direction they’d left.
“Nice horsey.” I carefully stepped out of my aisle. “Nice unicorns.”
Their heads turned to track my progress down the aisle and toward the front of the store.
I made it a good ten feet before the large skeletal horse blocked any retreat. Ahead of me was still clear, but that could change at any time. “I know your magic is broken. I want to mend it. Will you let me help?”
The skeleton behind me didn’t react.
It had been worth a try.
At the end of the aisle, I poked my head around the corner. The smaller horses and unicorns had taken up positions at the end of every single aisle. The large horse still blocked my retreat, leaving the front displays and checkout available. The phantom unicorn stood in front of the door.
Considering my lack of experience with curses, I didn’t know if this was normal behavior or not. My feeling was no, if only because I’d never heard of a curse animating this many things.
If—and it was a big if—I was willing to assume the curse was trying to show me something, it had to be in this part of the store. And it likely matched the unicorn and horse theme.
The display in front of me and to my right had small costume pieces. Gloves, hats, ties, and headbands. The latter featured a row of unicorn horn headbands. Technically, any of them could be cursed, but practically, I doubted it. They should have been fresh from a manufacturer and wouldn’t have been exposed to magic to begin with.
Nothing else caught my eyes until I got to the registers. Why would one be covered?
I stepped out of the aisle.
All the equines stared at me.
“Easy.” I kept a steady pace toward the register. Since there were a lot of animated equines but only one phantom unicorn, I watched it.
The opalescent skeleton paced in front of the doors, its head turned toward me.
I had to turn my back on it and dismiss my wand, and I lifted the black cloth off the register.
The first lump under the cloth turned out to be a pile of costumes. The next was a candelabra. The cloth snagged, and I tugged it free.
Cleaned bone, real, not like the cheap imitation stuff all over the store, peeked out from under the cloth. Another tug, and I could see a shimmering horn. How had a real unicorn skull gotten here?
Chapter Fifteen
It all clicked into place. Jerry’s missing skull, the partly neutralized binding spell, and now the curse.
An opalescent skull leaned over my shoulder.
I started and then huffed out a breath. “I can return you to the rest of your skeleton. I can fix you.”
The phantom horse scooted closer to me until I could feel the faint buzz of energy creating its form. If it had been a real horse, it would’ve been resting its head over my shoulder, its cheek pressed against mine.
I lifted my hand so it could sniff. I would’ve scratched its nose, but my hand would go right through the phantom. “Can I call a friend? He knows how to get to your bones. He’s the one who told me your skull had been taken. He wants to get you back where you belong just as much as I do.”
The phantom side stepped and bobbed its head.
“Thank you.”
All around the room, skeletal equines, unicorn pumpkins, unicorn dog costumes, and an adult-sized unicorn onesie retreated down the aisles.
I dialed Jerry’s number and waited as it rang. When it went to voice mail, I called again.
“This better be important,” he rasped.
“I have your unicorn skull. I can meet you at the museum.” As much as I wanted to get back to bed, curses weren’t known for their patience. The sooner this was dealt with, the better.
“Narzel.” He groaned. “It’s the middle of the night.”
“Curses aren’t much for telling time.”
He swore. “I’ll send you the address and meet you there. Umm. I’ll have a staff member there too.” He hung up.
I shoved my phone back in my pocket and smiled at the phantom. “Now, I need to take you home. Will you let me transport you?”
It bobbed its head again.
I’d never given much thought to how much a unicorn skull weighed, but it was both lighter than I expected and heavier than it looked. I credited a good portion of the weight to the horn.
The phantom unicorn followed me out of the building, past Kent and several other officers, and to my car. It watched me settle the skull on the passenger seat and belt it into place. That was the best I could do for the drive.
I turned to the phantom. “I need to talk to the officers, and then I’ll take you back. You don’t have to continue this projection unless you want to.”
The phantom bobbed its head but stayed visible.
“Suit yourself.” I joined Kent and two other officers. “Everyone okay?”
“Other than being completely drunk, they should be fine.” Kent said. “Montoya got them all loaded into ambulances and saw them off to the hospital.”
“Good. I found the curse. I know how it was created and how to break it.” I filled them in on the details. A quick glance back at the car confirmed the phantom was still there. “I’ll need an escort too.”
Kent nodded. “I can’t leave, but I’ll assign someone.”
Five minutes later, we were on the road. I took a moment to thank the earth that it was the middle of the night. The curse wasn’t thrilled with our escort, but the phantom unicorn trailed my car all the way to the museum without causing any problems, in no small part because there weren’t many people out and about at two in the morning.
Marietta Nature Museum was in a brick building on the outskirts of downtown. A rumpled Jerry and an immaculately put-together woman with silver hair waited on the steps.
I unbuckled the skull, and with the phantom keeping pace, went to greet them.
“You found it!” The woman hurried down to meet me.
The phantom blocked her path.
She looked at it evenly. “None of that. I’ve taken care of you these past few years.”
The phantom backed away.
“Devi Douglas.” She smiled, more at the skull than me. “Thank you. I’ve been worried, and I know his family has worried too.”
“Michelle Oaks. It is my pleasure to return the skull.” I kept going up the steps. “Shall we break this curse?”
“Oh, yes.” Devi hurried to the door. “This way.”
Jerry gave me and the phantom plenty of room before following us in.
At first, it seemed like any other museum, with a skeleton of a large bird hanging over the entry. That impression didn’t last long. She took us through an enormous room with a dragon skeleton, or a very good replica of one. It was an adult, taking up more than one hundred feet from head to tail. Other skeletons of large, intelligent races lined the walls. Two gryphons guarded over a nest of baby gryphons. A giant stood between large doors to the next room, and a wyrm took up the entire far wall.
From there, we went through a hall of humanoids. Here they’d been preserved in several configurations, often including the cartilage. Dwarves stood next to fey and witches beside werewolves. A column separated elves and dark elves. Vampires and humans were beside one another.
As we walked, Devi told us about other parts of the museum, where they showed shifters in both forms. She pointedly said every single skeleton had been donated to the facility. Her chatter carried us to another hall with intelligent non-human races, including unicorns.
A rearing skeleton, hooves high in the air, drew my eyes to the center of the room. It would’ve been perfect, if only it had a head.
“Uther was a recent addition, only three years with us. His family is so proud and loves to visit.” Devi gazed at the skeleton. “Bless you for finding the skull. I don’t know what we would’ve done.”
“I’ll have the curse corrected as quickly as I can.” I extended a probe.
A binding spell draped across the bones like a tattered rag. I winced and continued to examine the area. Where the spell was broken, it was as if it had been dissolved into nothing. Motes of magic drifted through the gaps in the weave. Jerry had mentioned a nullifying spell, but it was long gone.
