on the outside. Cooperative, if politely refusing offers of aid in getting ready. As if I wanted help readying myself for my own funeral. I was pretty sure a turkey would say no thanks if a person asked it to give a wing/hand with the plucking.
I sent everyone away because it gave me time to think. Surely there was a way out of this madness.
A spell. I dug out everything I had. The oddly inert ring my grandma left me. It felt like cheap metal on my finger.
With an eyeliner I dug out, I wrote sigils on my body that might protect me. It couldn’t hurt. I slipped chalk into my bra, just in case. Sent up a small prayer to the two people I knew loved me most. “Grandma, Dad, if you’re listening…” What could I say? “I love you.” Might see you soon. Because how could I fight this alone?
Even a superhero would be hard-pressed given everyone around worked against me.
As I went down the stairs it was to see the main floor lined with people in cloaks, the hoods drawn up, hiding their features in shadow. Except for Geoff and Winnie. They stood side by side, also in black with voluminous cloaks, looking anxious. No mistaking the big shape standing possessively by my daughter. Jace. A man who’d convinced her it was in her best interest to sacrifice me. Was he that good in bed?
Outside, more robed figures awaited, forming a path down to the lake. The cold proved brisk, but I welcomed the sharp bite. As long as I felt it, I lived.
We marched to our destination with Geoff on one side of me, Winnie the other. A few paces behind, Jace and Helena.
Partners in crime? They felt more like hostage takers than lovers. Had my children yet realized they’d had their hearts fooled?
And for what?
I still had to wonder what they thought killing me would do. Whatever they’d lost, I had no idea how to find it.
At the edge of the lake sat a sledge made of a marble-like material that sucked in the light of the rising moon. I didn’t want to get in. Getting in meant accepting my fate. Getting in meant I’d die so my kids would live. Was there really any other choice?
I couldn’t run. But maybe I could—
Before I’d managed to hit the ground, reaching to trace, my arms were grabbed. Hard. Painful enough I gasped more in shock at who held me.
“Geoff.” He didn’t look at me as he marched me to the sledge.
No apology as he thrust me in. I huddled on the seat. Stunned. Sad.
Despite there being no animals tethered to it, the sledge slid amidst an eerie silence broken only by the hiss of the blades over ice as magic dragged me to my doom.
Toward the hole. The very same spot my mother tried to drown me in.
It wasn’t glowing. Not anymore. The light came from the people who’d gathered. It lit them from within, and I felt an answering tug. As if I knew that light.
Wanted it.
As I passed the watching crowd, I saw the bottles of mud, packaged in the mill, lying on the ice. The contents smeared on skin—face, hands, clothes—glowing for some reason.
I faced forward again as the sledge managed a graceful turn and stop. There were nine people standing, waiting. Some I knew like Orville and Trish—fucking Trish was possessed? Since when? Or had she been like this since my return and I’d not noticed?
Did Jojo know?
The question had me glancing to the watching crowd and spotting Marjorie in the front ranks, her expression beatific. Not a care in the world. Obviously in cahoots with the bad guys.
Back to the nine, it also included Jace and Helena—who I’d bet was the one whispering in Martin’s ear, getting him to snap. And now, she’d moved on to my son.
There were faces I didn’t know, nor would I find out because Darryl, the one I wanted to see least, stood by the sledge and offered a hand.
I could see the demon clearly atop his body. A much bigger and more handsome version. Pointed ears and horns. He grinned. I didn’t let him see my shudder and avoided his help as I stepped out.
My super-sized cat sat among the nine, not demon possessed but also not my friend as I’d thought. Part of the plot against me. The final dagger in my heart.
It left no one to care how scared I was. No one