First Destroy All Giant Monsters (The World Wide Witches Research Association) (46 page)

“What did you hit?” demanded Amber.

“I don’t remember. But you’re right, I should’ve been thrown.”

Amber walked slowly over the street, bending down to run her fingers over the road surface. Smooth. Karl’s memory painted it as smooth as a lie.

“This road … ?”

“Was resurfaced a few weeks before the party,” Karl paced back and forth along the sidewalk. “I remember visiting Mike’s parents with him and having to find somewhere a few blocks away to park.”

“Okay.”

Karl walked away from her and stood in front of the young Gloria, examining her laughing face. Karl looked back and forth between the shattered bodies of the girls and Gloria.

“She doesn’t seem upset,” Amber came up to stand beside him. “Did it take her awhile to go into shock or something?”

Karl shook his head.

“I don’t remember her being upset at all. I was the one screaming.”

Amber looked at young Karl in the car.

“You’re not screaming there. When did you start?”

“After the car overturned.” Karl looked at his young self, limp behind the wheel. “I went crazy. They had to hold me down. I kept trying … I don’t know what … I just kept screaming. My mother had to come.” Karl’s hands clenched and released, the muscles of his arms rigid as steel, “I think … I need to see this again, only, for a little longer.”

The air rippled. The overturned car faded and reformed back beside the sidewalk. Again the car sped off, flying and falling. Screams filled the air and horrified partiers flooded out of the house onto the street. Amber watched Gloria. Hers was the one face amongst the watchers that did not change but remained … joyful. Excited. Malicious.

Karl walked around the car, ignoring the spectators who tried to stem the flow of remembered blood.

“I hear screams in my memory, but I don’t see anyone screaming here,” Karl studied the scene dispassionately, “There are some kids crying, but most are speechless. Or babbling. Let’s see this again.”

“Wait,” Amber caught his shoulders and turned him away from the wreck, “First, talk to me. Why did this happen? What were you doing?”

“Doing? The girls wanted to be on parade. Homecoming queens. Returning astronauts. You know the deal. They kept saying my car was perfect for it. Kept asking to be driven around the block.”

“Why did you agree?”

“I … I … didn’t,” Karl concentrated on the distant memory, “I was busy. Wasn’t interested. Didn’t want their shoes to damage the leather. The guys and I were talking, drinking. I had the hood up and was showing off the work I’d done.”

“Then why did it happen?”

“Gloria said she wanted me to.”

“Gloria?”

“Yeah. If I didn’t go along with some of her ideas she had ways of making me miserable for days. So I did it.”

Behind him came the sounds of tearing metal and screams.

Amber shook her head.

“Not good enough. Why would your girlfriend let you drive other women around like homecoming queens and not her? Why wasn’t she in the car?”

“Uh …” Karl turned and studied the scene again. The three girls were climbing into the seat. This time Gloria was guiding them, encouraging them to sit on the back, waving to them. The drunk and puzzled teenagers waved back uncertainly.

“It’s different. It changed,” cried Karl.

“Yes. I think we’re getting closer to the truth. There’s a difference between what really happened and what you remember. Or rather, what you were blocked from remembering.”

“This still feels wrong,” said Karl after a pause and he took a step toward the car.

“So, close your eyes and tell me what you feel.”

“I’m not sure,” Karl closed his eyes and concentrated, “I don’t feel anything.”

“Okay. You were showing off your car, yes?”

“Yes.”

“Was Gloria with you?”

“No. She came out of the house.”

The scene flickered again. Amber watched as the door opened and Gloria emerged followed by several other party guests.

“What did she do?”

“She asked me … wanted me to drive a couple of the girls around the block.”

“Not her.”

“No.”

“Was she often like this? Arranging things for other people’s pleasure?”

“No. Hell, no! This is odd. Usually she couldn’t care less.” Karl opened his eyes and looked down at Amber, “She was inconsiderate and selfish. I can’t imagine her wanting to let someone do something like that in my car. She was territorial about it. About me. Kept asking me to let her drive it, but I wouldn’t. Maybe this isn’t a true memory, either.”

“Let’s see how it plays out.”

Again the girls filed out of the house. Karl was bullied and teased by his girlfriend into reluctant compliance. Amber watched a sulky Karl leaning against the car, beer in hand as the three girls were put into the car and arranged in place by Gloria. The car moved off.

“Wait!” shouted Amber. The scene froze. “Who’s driving?”

“Huh? I am.”

“Yeah? When did you get in? I saw Gloria putting the girls in. You were standing beside the car. You were mad. You turned your back on them.”

The memory image froze and they ran to stand beside the car. The girls were perched on their seats, but the front seat was empty.

“I don’t get it,” Karl muttered.

“You don’t remember getting in the car.”

“I must have!”

“Really? Think about it. When?”

“Ahhhh. Dammit. I don’t remember getting in. But I had to. I was driving. No one drove my car but me.”

“Let’s take it again from the top. Who came out of the house with Gloria?”

Karl faced the house. The house shimmered, faded as Karl concentrated, forcing the memory back into existence. One window frame at a time the house reformed. The door opened and four women and a man exited.

“Who’s this one?” said Amber, crossing to walk beside him.

“Jimmy King.”

“He wasn’t here before.”

“Yeah. He hung around with us. Friend of Gloria more than me. Knew her before me.”

“Was he in the coven? He wasn’t on your list.”

“That was because he never graduated. He died.”

“When? And how?”

Karl growled and gripped Amber’s arms, lifting her off her feet. “In a car accident. Damn it, Amber, he died in a goddamned car accident our first year at college.”

The air around them rippled, tore, then the scene reformed. Again Gloria arranged the loading of the car. This time young Karl ranted and complained about the abuse the leather seats were taking from the girls’ shoes and refused to consider driving them anywhere. While Karl argued with Gloria, Jimmy ducked around to the other side of the car and climbed in, keeping his head low and working his way across to the driver’s seat. Suddenly Gloria reached out, snatching the keys from Karl’s hand. She tossed them to the waiting Jimmy. When the key turned in the ignition Karl threw his beer can away cursing loudly and tried to grab the car door.

Laughing, Jimmy slammed the car into motion, and with a deep grinding from the gearbox, drove off. Karl ran beside the car shouting, clutching vainly at the slick metal. Gloria followed, dragging Karl back.

“Wait,” commanded Karl. “Freeze it. Stop!”

Karl froze on the side of the road only inches away from his younger self.

“What?” asked Amber.

“What is Gloria shouting?”

The scene advanced a few more feet. Amber and Karl stood beside Gloria listening intently.

“Flip it?” muttered Karl.

“Sounds like it to me. What does she mean?”

“No idea,” Karl faced the car again, “Let it run and we’ll see.”

The young Karl leapt to one side as Jimmy turned the steering wheel sharply again and again. Jimmy deliberately bounced the tires once, twice, three times against the curb. Gloria bounced up and down on the sidewalk shrieking excitedly.

“What is he doing?” shouted Amber.

“My God! He’s trying to flip the car. Like in the movies. To drive the car on two wheels.”

“That’s insane,” Amber cried. “That’s not how it’s done. And there are girls in the back!”

Beside her the young Gloria continued to scream her chant, “Flip it! Flip it!”

Amber watched the car speed down the road, Jimmy yanking on the steering wheel. The front wheels caught on a section of higher pavement, lifting the car, throwing it over. The girls tumbled, flew, limbs flailing.

And so did Jimmy, crashing to the ground, his body broken.

On the sidewalk both Karls screamed. Gloria ran toward her Karl, her hand raised. She called out words of summoning, drawing in the energy of the girls’ deaths. Shrieking more unintelligible words Gloria thrust her fist deep into young Karl’s stomach. As he doubled over in pain, she slapped her other hand hard against his forehead calling down more power, driving her will deep into his body.

“Hold!” cried Amber, freezing the scene. Grabbing the elder Karl by the shoulders, she spun him around, “Look at this. At her! It isn’t your fault. Gloria did this. Gloria caused this. She killed four people just to make you feel guilty!”

Karl continued to shriek, his hands fisted hard against his own stomach.

“See it!” commanded Amber, dragging his head up by the hair. “Open your eyes. See it clearly. See the truth! Look at what she did. Gloria killed! Murdered!”

Karl’s hands clawed at his chest; his eyes were open, staring.

Amber called the waiting spell energy to one hand and thrust hard into Karl’s abdomen, raking her other hand hard over his forehead. As her hands came away they were encased in a writhing mass of black threads, frantically thrusting into her skin. Trying to dig their way into her flesh.

And her spirit.

Chapter Eighteen

Karl staggered as he was relieved of the great weight. He gasped as he saw the threads in Amber’s hands growing, expanding. Spreading. The thick mass entangled about Amber’s limbs. Climbing over her head. Binding about her chest. He plunged his hands into the mass trying to pull them away from her, but his hands passed through the threads, untouched and untouchable.

“Amber!”

Amber stood quietly within the twisting mass. Eyes shut. Tears running down her face. Concentrating.

The power she needed waited only a thought away. She reached out. The coven’s strength poured into her, strengthening her shields, protecting her hands. Glowing and growing power flowed over her body, encasing the new threads. Each individual fiber covered and held within a magical sheath.

“Amber! For God’s sake, Amber, give them back. They’re too much for you.”

Amber seemed to relax, muscle by muscle. Her eyelids fluttered. And she opened her eyes. The rich blue had fled. Her eyes were a deep flat black.

The dreamscape faded and Karl found himself wrestling with Sandy and Kokopeli.

“Where’s Amber? What happened?”

Sandy pointed down. Beside the blanket lay Amber, one hand raised stiffly into the air. Lady Fuzzy Bunny Slippers was arranging another blanket over her legs.

Amber blinked and smiled up at them. “Hey.”

“Hey, yourself,” Karl dropped to his knees beside her. His heart twisted and started beating again. Here in the real world her eyes were still a comforting blue, but they were shadowed with pain and fatigue. He tried to pull her into his arms, but her stiff body was too heavy for him to move. “Oh, Amber,” he groaned, “What the hell did you do?”

“What I promised,” Amber’s voice was a faint echo of its usual cheerful tone. She paused between words struggling to force air into her lungs. “I took the threads out of you in a way that left you alive. I had to wait for you to reject the hook. Gloria used guilt to bury a link to the web in your mind and heart. You’re free. I knew what would happen. We didn’t destroy the web, so it transferred to me. I just didn’t expect it to be so heavy.”

“Dammit, Amber. Now you’re their victim. I didn’t want that. God. Please tell me you’re okay.”

“I was already caught. Nothing new there.”

“Let me help you up.”

He shoved his hands under her shoulders and heaved, but couldn’t shift her an inch.

“No. I can’t move yet. It’s too heavy,” her lips barely moved as she spoke. “It would be easier to stay right here,” she glanced at Sandy. “What time is it?”

Several coven members moved within the circle, building up the fire, encouraging it to burn brighter on the side nearest Amber. Karl lay down beside Amber and pulled her close.

“About four-thirty.” Sandy’s face shone palely in the flickering firelight.

“Good,” said Amber. “Tell everyone to rest a little. We have a little time before the main event. Keep the sacred space intact, but take turns maintaining it.”

“Okay,” said Sandy.

“Not ‘Okay.’” Karl glared around the circle. “Amber’s got the whole web weighing on her. We have to get it off.”

“We will,” said Sandy, “or rather, she will. Just not yet.”

“Not yet?”

Amber nodded fractionally. “I don’t know how the spell was cast. None of us do. These guys discussed it all day while we were asleep. They can’t see it. No one who isn’t part of the web can sense it. It wasn’t possible to work out what she did and that means we don’t know how to unmake it. We have to have the caster, Gloria herself, to unmake it, if we can. Or break it. Either way we need her to be present. To confront her. So we wait until the usual five sixteen event and deal with it then. The coven is all set up to make sure I don’t lack for power.”

“You have got to be joking! I wouldn’t have let you start this if …”

“I know. Hey, at least I’m being honest. I could’ve pretended that I told you all about it, we had a fight, and you eventually agreed that this was the only way. Then your forget spell kicked in and you forgot. I confess; I kept this from you.”

Karl swore for a few minutes then leaned over to kiss her.

“I love you, you idiot,” he said. “You can’t go around doing dangerous things to yourself without my permission. It isn’t allowed.”

Amber’s laugh was a faint whisper of sound, but it echoed in the silent circle.

“Who made up that rule?”

“I did,” Karl arranged the blanket closer around Amber’s stiff body, “just now. You do that one more time and I’ll … find some way to make you regret it.”