Gypsy Magic - J.R. Rain Page 0,75

was when I got an idea…

Darla.

I reached up and gripped the pendent around my neck as I closed my eyes and reached out to her, requesting her presence. It was maybe a second or so before she blipped into existence right beside me.

“Yippee!” Darla yelled with excitement as she clapped her hands together. “Did you call me to dip the bill?”

Dipping the bill was Darla’s way of asking if I’d invited her to have a drink. “No,” I managed. “I need… your help.” I was so drained, I could barely even speak.

She faux-pouted for a few seconds and then turned to see what was going on. As soon as she spied the wendigo fighting sasquatch, a centaur and a vampire, her eyes went wide. “My help?” she repeated, shaking her head. “Last I heard, monsters weren’t much on getting scared by ghosts, dollface,” she said as she turned to face me. “Looks like you’re behind the eight ball.”

“I need your energy, Darla,” I insisted. “I need to… borrow your energy… in order to fuel the Fiery Command Oil.”

“An’ just how am I supposed to give you my energy, hmm?”

“I… don’t know exactly,” I admitted. I mean, I’d never done anything like this before. “I thought maybe… there was a way you could… overlay your energy on mine.” I looked at Bailey. “Is that… even possible?”

“You mean… you want Darla to possess you?”

I shook my head. I definitely didn’t want Darla to possess me because I was fairly sure I’d never get my body back and I shuddered to think what she’d do with it. “Is there anything… short of possession… that might work?”

Bailey was silent as she considered it. “Well, if all we need is Darla to channel her energy into the Fiery Command Oil, it might work if you… share the potion.”

“What’s that mean?” Darla asked.

“It means you… have to touch… my wrist, where I anointed… myself with the oil,” I said. “And maybe… together, we can overcome… the wendigo.”

Bailey nodded. “I think if you join hands, that should allow Darla access to the potion.”

“What’s in it for me?” Darla asked, narrowing her eyes on me as she plopped her hands on her hips.

“You get to… escape the house… for a little bit,” I answered.

“No deal,” she said and shook her head. Then she faced Bailey. “What’s the chances something bad happens to me?”

“I don’t know,” Bailey answered, shaking her head as she shrugged.

Darla looked at me and it was my turn to shrug. “I don’t… know either.”

“Those odds sound real stacked against me.”

“What do… you want, Darla?” I grumbled.

“A free night,” she answered. “You have to agree to take me wherever I want—to dinner or dancing…”

That sounded reasonable. “Okay,” I said.

She seemed surprised, almost like she thought I wouldn’t agree. Then she floated over to my side as I extended my arm. Darla took my hand and shivers immediately ran up my arm at her touch.

“Is that our Butter and Egg Man?” Darla asked, narrowing her eyes as she spied the wendigo.

“Yes, I need… you to focus… and channel your energy… into the potion on… my wrist.” I paused to inhale deeply and had to fight the stars from overcoming my vision. I was dangerously weak. “Imagine the potion… encircling the wendigo… and bending her will to ours.”

She nodded as she faced the wendigo. “Time to dance,” she muttered and I might have laughed if not for the situation we were facing.

I focused on the wendigo and channeled whatever remaining life force I had left (without killing myself) into my intention. I could feel the hum of Darla’s energy just beside mine.

“Barbra, assume… your human… form!” I yelled out as loudly as I could.

“Assume your human form!” Darla repeated, yelling out even more loudly.

The wendigo jerked in response and then stopped from charging Roy. The creature just stood there then, as if stunned. Its chest heaved as Darla’s and my combined energy assaulted it.

I don’t know if it was ten seconds later or ten minutes, but the wendigo eventually succumbed to the force of our collective energy and collapsed on the road, now in Barbra’s shape. I breathed out an exhausted yet relieved breath and glanced over to find Darla blipping out of existence.

“Darla!” I started and the sudden shock of seeing her disappear did a number on my already exhausted body. I felt my power grow empty and I sagged against Bailey. I’d never felt so completely fatigued before. She and Janet had to struggle to keep