13:12
Gwen turned to look wildly over the group. Her hands remained clasped to Dempsey’s throat, but her hair had tamed mildly. “I–” She paused to gulp. “I think–” Another gulp. “I can still feel him. He’s still here. We have to try.”
Her voice broke on the last word. Siobhan curled her arm around Gwen and pulled her into her side. Well, as much as she could with Gwen still stubbornly clinging to Dempsey’s throat.
Gwen dropped her head and sobbed into Siobhan’s shoulder. And still she kept her grip on Dempsey. Kim wasn’t sure a hurricane would remove that hold.
Then Gwen lifted her head and stared directly into Siobhan’s eyes. “I am going to kill that bitch.”
The cold rage in Gwen’s voice set Kim back a step. That was not her Gwen. Well, it was but–
Before Kim could formulate any better response, Siobhan gave a short nod. “Okay.”
“I am.” Gwen’s eyes narrowed and Kim swore there was a flash of fire in them. “Kill her dead.”
Siobhan didn’t even blink. “Okay.”
“I am.” Gwen’s voice broke on a sob. She burrowed her face into the curve of Siobhan’s neck.
“Okay.” Siobhan shifted her attention to the others. “Figure out how to get him down.”
Dan walked slowly around Dempsey’s suspended form. He nodded. Shifted his toothpick as he went. After two cycles in which he studied the threads above Dempsey rather than Dempsey’s body, he stopped and met Siobhan’s gaze. “The threads integrity has been compromised. They are still energy but they–” He trailed off. Shifted his toothpick. “The energy isn’t condensed. There are gaps.”
“And those gaps mean what?” Ivan asked.
“I think we can widen the gaps. Maybe break the threads.”
Gwen lifted her chin from Siobhan’s shoulder and pinned Dan with a scary stare. “What are you waiting for?”
Dan, for his part, didn’t flinch beneath that regard. Instead he pulled a book from one of the pockets in his vest and flipped pages. Then, with a grunt, he closed the book and returned it to his pocket. Kim followed the movement with a frown.
Before she could ask about it, Dan took a step back from Dempsey and curled and uncurled his fingers. Fist. Un-fist. Fist. Then he lifted his chin and uttered a single word, “Entropy.”
Dempsey’s cocoon shifted but didn’t drop. Instead it sort of shivered.
Dan looked to Abe. “Abe. Chaos.”
Abe studied Dan for a moment, lips curled over their lips. Then they nodded and focused on Dempsey.
“Chaos,” they whispered. A wave of ink spooled out from their right hand. It flowed through the air and wove through the threads over Dempsey. They looked at Dan and gave a short nod. Then Dan stared hard at the threads and the ink and projected with enough force Kim practically felt it, “Entropy”
“Chaos!” Abe hollered.
And the threads burst apart in a flare of light. The particles separated, floating on the air, tiny pinpricks of bright energy drifting like static.
Ivan, Patti, and Ben dove forward and under Dempsey in time to catch his slack form as it plummeted towards the hard floor. They grunted under the hit. Dempsey was a big guy and the term deadweight had merit, bodies seemingly heavier in death than life.
Abe’s ink snapped back to them and they scurried to help as Ivan, Ben, and Patti lowered Dempsey’s lax form to the floor. Gwen followed with them, her hands still on Dempsey’s throat, and Siobhan stooped to keep her contact with Gwen.
Something metal hit the floor as Dempsey’s limp arm flopped to the side. Prairie stooped and scooped it up, a look of concentration on her face as she examined it. She rose from her crouch, her gaze still on the item which was small enough to sit easily in her palm.
Curling her fingers around it, she returned to where she’d stood earlier speaking to, Kim assumed, Dempsey’s Spirit.
“I need the control word.” Her voice carried back to the others clustered around Dempsey.
Kim eyed Dempsey’s form and the others clumped around him. No real room for her with all but Prairie and her close. Made sense to join Prairie instead, so she did.
She pulled up next to Prairie and stared where Prairie was focused. She saw absolutely nothing. Pretty much expected.
“Can I help?” She whispered to Prairie.
Prairie spared her a quick look. “I need the word that activated this.”
She uncurled her fingers showing a small metal cross with equal-length arms.
“What is it?”
“Crossroads. I’ve heard of objects that can be used to bargain with or control entities that protect the crossroads.” She shook her head. “The places where the veil is thin between the Real and Spiritus.”
“Okay.” Kim focused on the area she suspected Dempsey’s spirit hung. Floated? Was? Was worked. “He can hear you?”
“I believe so, but he isn’t communicating with me. It might be this,” Prairie shook the object. “He’s not in the Real or Spiritus. That’s the first thing I checked. I think what I’m seeing is an echo. I think his Spirit is held in this.”
“So.” Kim paused because she wasn’t sure what to say next. She considered for a moment then asked, “You can’t communicate at all?”
“It looks like he tries to speak but his mouth is frozen.”
“Can you unfreeze it?”
Prairie shook her head in the negative. Her mouth set on a firm line. “No. Again, he is less Spirit and more echo. A lot more echo. My Magick just slides over him.”
“Huh.” Kim focused on the possible Dempsey space. “Dempsey?”
“Oh.” Prairie blinked.
“What?”
“He turned to look at you.”
“Cool.” Kim nodded slow as she continued to process the thoughts in her head which were much more fragments of thought than coherent thoughts. “So, Dempsey?”
“He waved.”
“He waved.” Again Kim nodded. “Dempsey, try charades.”
Prairie jerked a look at her, a look of wonder dawning. “Oh. That’s good.” She turned and stared where Dempsey probably was. “Tom. How many words?”
After a moment she turned to Kim. “Four.”
“Well, one would be better but okay?”
“What’s going on?”
Kim turned at Ben’s voice and pressed a hand to her chest. “Damn, you need a bell.”
“Got one.” Ben flicked the silence bell Ivan had given him where it hung on a chain around his neck. “What’s going on?”
“Dempsey is here but Prairie thinks his Spirit is trapped in this item.”
Prairie uncurled her fingers to show Ben the metal item. “It’s a crossroads protection talisman. I think it has an activation phrase. Four words.”
“Four words.” Ben nodded. “Do we have any?”
“No.”
“Okay. So, what’s the plan?”
“Charades,” Kim said.
“Charades?” Ben drawled.
“Charades.”
“Okay. How is this going to work?”
“I can see him and he is responding,” Prairie said.
“So get to charading, woman!”
Prairie just blinked several times. Then she turned back to the Dempsey space and asked, “First word?”
She frowned at the space a long moment. “Kill?”
Another pause. Kirby bumped her, causing her to take a short step to the side. Then Bunny woofed. Prairie looked down at them and nodded before turning back to Dempsey Space. “No. Not kill. Dead?”
After a moment she shook her head. “Not Dead. Death?” A smile bloomed on her mouth and she turned to Ben and Kim. “Death.”
Ben nodded. “Death. Next?”
Prairie turned back to Dempsey. “Third word? Not second?” A moment then she nodded, “Third word.”
She frowned and shifted and gave the definition impression she was trying hard to interpret what Dempsey was acting out. “Grab? No? Hug?” Her voice went up with the word then she shook her head. “Not hug.” She turned and looked at Kim and Ben then wrapped her arms around herself. “He’s doing this.”
“Hold.” Kim jerked as Dan’s voice came from slightly behind her. She shifted so he could take the space between she and Ben.
“Hold?” Prairie repeated in Dempsey’s direction. A smile bloomed on her mouth, lighting her eyes as she turned to Dan, Ben, and Kim. “It’s hold.”
“Okay.” Kim nodded then looked to Dan. “There’s a Magick item. Control phrase. Four words. Prairie can’t hear Dempsey but she can see him so he’s doing charades.”
“Makes sense. What do we have?”
“Death is the first word. The third is Hold.”
“Skipped the second?”
“Yes.”
“Probably something common or hard to act out.”
Ben twisted his mouth to the side. “Solid logic.”
Dan gave a miniscule shrug, then focused on Prairie who continued to peer at the Dempsey Space. She frowned then hesitantly pressed her hand to her chest. “This?”
After a moment she offered, “You?” Another short pause then she said, “No. Not you. Me?”
She looked down with a smile then turned to Ben, Dan, and Kim. “Fourth word is Me.”
Dan nodded. “Death something Hold Me?”
“Yes.”
“How about Can’t?”
Prairie studied him a moment then nodded. “That feels right.”
She held the metal cross up before her. The undetermined light glinted off the dull silvery metal, catching on the small green gems embedded in the cross. Some of the gems shone like emeralds while others were dull with red striations in the green.
A small flex of her Magick told Kim the metal was lead and the stones were emerald and bloodstone. Not that it was relevant, really, but curiosity was one of her many, many faults.
“Death can’t hold me,” Prairie intoned. Nothing happened. Not that Kim was expecting some explosion of light or anything. And really what was bound to happen might only be obvious to Prairie.
“Prair?”
“Yes?” Prairie’s tone was distracted.
“Anything?”
“No.”
“Try Magick,” Ben suggested.
“Oh.” Prairie blinked then bit her lip. “That makes sense.”
She stared at the cross, her gaze going inward and probably beyond. Then she whispered, “Death can’t hold me.”
Another long pause then she turned to the others and shook her head. “Nothing.”
“If it’s an ancient object maybe try the full word, not the contraction.” At Kim’s and Ben’s stare Dan lifted a shoulder. “Words hold power, but it has to be exact word.”
“Okay.” Prairie nodded then turned back to the Dempsey Space and held the cross in front of her again. Her expression shifted to one of concentration and then she said, “Death cannot hold me.”
There was power in her voice. And then she gasped. And smiled. “Hello.”
“Hello?” Hello cocked its head and looked to Prairie. She dropped her free hand on Hello’s head without shifting her attention from in front of her.
“Hello, Tom.” Her smile lit her entire face. Lit her entire body really. It was like it filled her with buoyant energy, causing her to float on her joy. Then she shifted a look over her shoulder. The hand without the cross reached forward, fingers closing around something Kim could not see. “I’ve got him.”
The corner of Prairie’s mouth tweaked and then she gave a small laugh. “This stubborn man held on. Oh,” she gave a small laugh. “He says Mary wasn’t going to win. Even if he didn’t survive it.” She sniffed and clutched the metal cross to her chest before closing her eyes while her smile settled into something familiar and tender. “Now let’s get him back.”
Kim’s eyes burned and she had to take a deep breath. “Let’s.”
“Do you need anything?” Dan asked.
Prairie shook her head, shifting her gaze from the space in front of her to the cross clutched to her chest. “No. The benefit of us not meeting any resistance here means I have energy.”
“Even after the ritual earlier?” Ben pressed.
To her credit Prairie didn’t immediately answer. It took several mikros before she nodded. “Even after that.” She shifted her focus to Kim, “Kim, Siobhan, Gwen, and Al provided the majority of the energy. Or at least they shouldered a lot of it. I’m good. Plus,” she tapped Hello’s head where her free hand remained, “Kirby can help.”
“Always, my One,” One intoned.
And that was that, Kim guessed. Prairie knew her limits and Kirby would help if she reached them. Plus, if it came to it Kim had no problem giving Prairie some Magick. And she could guarantee everyone else would too.
Dempsey was coming back to them. Hard stop.
Enter The Woods 